I O U My Heart
by BellaCantante359
Summary: Heather is a spunky Griffindor girl with a knack for mischif. She's all set to finish her last year at Hogwarts, but she keeps finding herself and a certain "goldenboy" in a closer proximity then she would like.
1. Chapter 1

Authors note: I always wanted to do a Cedric story so here it is

**Authors note: So here it is, my wonderful Cedric Diggory story! I always wanted to do a Cedric story so here it is. I'm gong to disregard most of what happened in the fourth book. I will however be using direct quotes from the book (Or the movie since I may have packed my book away) I do not own any of the rights to the book or the movie and I will properly disclaim everything. **

**If you don't like it then don't read it, please feel free to move your mouse to the top right hand corner of your screen and click the little red X.**

**Also, I am fully aware that the main character has her Mary Sue moments, but be honest, who doesn't love a good Mary Sue every now and then?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in the Harry potter cast, However, all original characters are of my own making.**

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**Chapter one: World cup here we come! **

"Ouch!" Heather exclaimed as she fell out of the fire place.

"Heather! It's so wonderful to see you! You're just in time." Mrs. Weasley said as she helped the young girl off the floor.

"Thanks Molly, where are the boys?" Heather asked while she shook the soot out of her long brown hair that fell to the middle of her back before putting it back up in her signature braid. "They're still asleep." Mrs. Weasley clucked as she continued making breakfast.

A grin spread its way across Heather's face. _'So the boys are still sleeping huh? Heh heh heh. . . . This is gonna be fun.'_ She thought as she climbed up the stairs to her best friend's room.

Mrs. Weasley smiled, full well knowing that her twins were about to have a rude awakening. Her God daughter was a fire ball. She shook her head as she thought about the life the girl had lead.

Heather had known the twins all her life. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were her God parents so naturally the Weasley's were like having real brothers and a sister. Her mother was a muggle witch and her father was a pure blood, they had been betrothed since birth, never would you have met a more unlikely match. While Heather's mother Grace, was a kind and loving woman, her father Aaron was cold and cruel. After her mother's death Heather was left at the mercy of her father.

Growing up with her father had not been easy. He was cruel and easy to anger. But by wizarding law she could not leave until she was of age. She waited, and waited, and waited. It seemed like ages before she was seventeen.

She wasn't stunningly gorgeous, but she was pretty. She had grown form the lanky little tomboy into a young woman with a slender build and gentle curves, but she still had the same reddish brown eyes and gentle face.

But that was all in the past now, she was free. When Heather had came of age she left her father's house and been living at the Leaky Cauldron while making a small living as an assistant in Madam Makin's Robes for every occasion. When her mother had discovered that she had Scrynthoma (Think the equivalent of wizarding cancer) She had set up an account for her daughter at Gringotts. Heather would be able to access the money after her graduation from Hogwarts school of witch craft and wizardry.

No one would ever guess that she lived the life she did when she wasn't at school. At school Heather was a happy go lucky girl, loud and always laughing. She was a random and irreverent as all hell. She would have to be seeing as she was friends with Fred and George. She was a proud Gryffindor going into her seventh and final year at Hogwarts.

Heather opened the door to the twins room and tip toed in. '_Mwa ha ha ha . . . . This is going to be soooooo freaking sweet.'_ Heather thought as she raised her wand. "WAKE UP!!" She hollered a she conjured a flock of ducks that were angrily quacking and fluttering around the room.

'BLOODY HELL!" The boys screeched as they fell out of bed. Heather was helpless with laughter as she watched the twins scramble around trying to avoid the flying birds. After they had managed to get all of the ducks out the window they looked around and surveyed the room. Feathers littered the floor and Fred and George looked absolutely ridiculous. They couldn't help but collapse into the same uncontrollable laughter.

"S'good to see you again mate." Fred said as he helped Heather up off of the floor. "Never a dull moment with you is it?" George said.

"I missed you too. Now come on you lazy bums, let's go down stairs and get some breakfast so we can GO! Do you honestly want to miss the single most coolest event in our natural born lives? When are we ever going to get tickets like these? LETS GO!" And with that she left the two boys to get dressed and headed down stairs to get some of Molly's fantastic cooking.

"The boys will be down shortly." Heather said as she slid into a seat. She was halfway done with her eggs when she was joined by two very sleepy teens. "Mornin' boys.' She said as she ruffled Harry's hair. "M-m-morining." Ron yawned. "Good morning Heather." Hermione greeted. She had obviously seen to getting the other two boys up. "Good morning Mione, how has your summer been?"

The two girls chatted for about twenty minuets until Mr. Weasley came down the stairs dressed most unusually. Heather and Harry tried to suppress their giggles as best they could. "Good morning all!" Said Mr. Weasley. He looked at a pocket watch and gasped. "We had better get a move on gang, we have to be at the portkey in half an hour! I'm sure Amos is already there."

'_Amos? He cannot be talking about Diggory's? O Merlin please.' _Heather silently begged. "Erm, Mr. Weasley? You don't mean the Diggory's do you?" She asked. "Why yes." Mr. Weasley said. "Ah, I bet your anxious to see you class mate Cedric, such a fine boy." Heather practically gagged.

"Why would I want to see that dolt?" Heather said.

"Who's a dolt?" asked Fred. The twins had finally appeared down stairs, still sporting the odd feather in their hair. "Golden boy." Heather grumbled. The twins exchanged looks, they knew the subject of Cedric would set Heather off on a half hour rant.

"Come on, lets get a move on!" Mr. Weasley urged. Heather sighed and grabbed her knap sack and followed the red heads out the door.

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**So what did you think? I know it was a little weird, but it's only the first chapter. The next one will be better, I promise. **

**REVIEW!!**

**-BellaCantante359**


	2. Chapter 2

Authors note: Okay, so the story is going to pick up a bit from here, I promise

**Heather is a Gryffindor certain distaste tournament Authors note: Okay, so the story is going to pick up a bit from here, I promise.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Harry Potter, all original characters are mine so don't steal. . . **

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**Chapter Two: ONWARD MY FAITHFUL STUD!**

The group trekked up the hill and into the woods where they were supposed to meet the other part of their party.

"C'mon you slow pokes! Let's go!" Heather said as she ran ahead. She couldn't believe that she was actually going to the quidditch world cup. She wasn't paying attention and almost slammed into Amos. "Whoa there girl, hold your horses." Amos chuckled good naturedly.

"Ah, Amos, I see that you have already found my God daughter." Mr. Weasley said. Heather was standing off to the side as the two men greeted each other.

All of a sudden there was a loud thump to her right, something had jumped out from a tree. Heather shouted in surprise as she fell backwards on to her butt. The others laughed at the startled look on her face. She looked up to see none other then Cedric Diggory. "I'm sorry, I didn't see you there." He said as he extended an arm to help her up. Heather glared at him and got up ignoring Cedric's outstretched hand.

Cedric looked at her confusedly and withdrew his hand.

"What the bloody hell are you doing?" hissed Hermione. "He's only the single most gorgeous bloke at Hogwarts!" Ginny added.

Heather scoffed. "Please, it's all a front, there is no way that he's that perfect. I mean, he has to have something horribly wrong with him. I bet that he's a serial killer and stalks little rabbits or something of the sort."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You can't possibly be serious." "Well I am." Heather finished.

Hermione was just about to argue the topic further when Mr.Weasley spoke up. "We've found the portkey! Come on, come on, grab a hold or you'll be left behind."

Heather grabbed hold of the old shoe and looked up. She found herself looking into Cedric's eyes. He gave her a small smile. She scowled. Then she felt an odd sensation. She felt as though there were an invisible hook that had just tied itself to her belly button and was yanking her backwards. She was suddenly flying.

"Okay now, Let. Go." Instructed Mr. Weasley. "You have got to be kidding?" Heather said, she was flying through the air and he wanted her to let go? The man had to be completely barmy. "Let go!" Mr. Weasley ordered again.

She reluctantly released her grip on the smelly old shoe. She felt herself falling and found herself on the floor for the third time that morning.

"Ow. . . ." She groaned, she looked up to see Mr. Weasley, Mr. Diggory, and of course golden boy, floating down to earth. They were chuckling to themselves as they landed.

Cedric came over and held out his hand to Heather. "Are you okay?' He asked. "No, I think I may have broken my arse." She grimly replied, but she did take his hand and allowed him to help her up. He chuckled at her comment as she rubbed the abused area.

"Look!" Fred said. Heather whirled around to see what he was pointing at. She saw the camp sites with thousands of other wizards were staying at, and off in the distance she could see it. The stadium. "Oh my dear Merlin . . . ." She breathed. "THIS HAS TO BE THE SINGLE MOST BESTEST DAY OF MY LIFE!" She said as she danced around with the twins.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthnakyouthankyouthankyou!!" _' I cannot believe that I'm going to see the quidditch world cup! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!_

The group walked up to the front to get checked in. When everything was settled Cedric turned to Heather. "I guess I'll see you around yeah?" "Yeah sure." Heather said, she was far to excited to give him a proper brush off.

She followed the Weasley's to two tents. She walked in and made herself at home. "I love magic." She heard Harry say. She had to grin, being half muggle she understood Harry's feeling. "Go look out back," She told him. "There's a Jacuzzi big enough to fit all of us in there." she joked. Much to her delight he ran to the back and looked.

"Why don't you and the twins have a look around while I finish setting up here." Mr. Weasley suggested. "Good idea!" Heather said as she jumped up and headed for the door. She knew that her other good friend Ryan Dennis would be here.

Ryan and Heather were an unlikely pair, but never would you met two closer friends. The two girls were like night and day. Ryan was a quiet muggle born girl that was rarely seen without a book in front of her face. She had dirty brownish blond hair and bright mossy green eyes.

They met on the Hogwarts Express their first year. Heather was hiding form some third years that she had mouthed off to and hid in Ryan's compartment. Ryan had lied when the older boys and girls came in looking for the trouble making brunette. They had been best friends since then.

Heather was goofing off with the twins when she ran into something solid. "Oof!" She said as she was knocked to the floor.

"You seem to be spending an awful lot of time on the ground today aren't you Miss Foxx?" She heard the something solid say. She looked up and none other then Cedric sodding Diggory.

The twins laughed as they came over to haul their friend to an upright position. "She's bloody clumsy," Fred said. "She would run into a wall in the middle of an open field." George finished. "Oh shut up, I was busy looking for Ryan." She said. Cedric's face fell a little bit. "Ryan?" He asked. The twins were about to explain about Ryan, but Heather seeing the opportunity to make fun of Cedric went on.

"Oh you know Ryan, the seventh year Gryffindor. You know, the one with the brownish blond hair, the nice build. Ryan has the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen. . ." She went on to describe her friend without giving away the fact that Ryan was infact the same sex. She was in the middle of explaining about what full lips Ryan had when she herd her name being shouted from behind.

She spun around. "RYAN!" Heather squeed as she ran to embrace her friend. The twins grinned impishly at Cedric's red face as they went to greet Ryan. "God I missed you!" Heather said when she had finally released Ryan from the bear hug that she had captured her in. "Me too." Ryan laughed. Heather grinned mischievously as she took Ryan's hand and lead her over to where Cedric stood. Ryan looked at her questioningly.

"This." Heather said gesturing to her friend. "Is Ryan. I honestly don't understand how you couldn't know who she is, I described her to a T." Ryan began to laugh finally catching on. She loved her name, but it often threw people off. Cedric, who was still blushing slightly, but now smiling at the joke shook her hand and introduced himself.

Before the conversation could continue on Heather said, "Well, I'm afraid that we must be off, we have much to discuss. So long!" And with that she steered her friend away toward the Weasley's tent.

"That wasn't nice." Ryan said. "Psssssssssh, so? You thought it was funny too." Heather pointed out. "But he's such a nice boy. . . ." Ryan started. "NO!" the twins cried, but it was too late, Heather was already off on another one of her famous "Golden boy" rants.

Later that evening the group may their way out to the stadium.

'_Oh my good sweet God, think I might actually faint' _Heather thought eagerly as she walked with her friends to the stands. They were half way up to their seats when she heard a rather unwelcomed voice. "Hello Heather."

'_Oh God why? What did I do to piss you off today? Anything but him. . .'_ She turned to face her ex boyfriend Roger Davies. Rodger was the only boy she had gone out with. "Davies" She nodded curtly as she tried to walk past him.

"Where are your seats? Maybe I could walk you up? It would be like old times." Rodger said. "Oi sod off." The twins said. "I wasn't talking to you two." Spat the dark haired Ravenclaw boy. "Roger, I suggest that you leave." The oldest Weasley son Bill said in a calm voice. "No." Was his reply.

'_So much for trying to be civil. . .' _She thought. "I will curse you into oblivion if you do not let me pass, now MOVE!" Heather said as she reached into her pocket for her wand. Rodger smirked and opened his mouth, but paused at the sight of a hand on Heather's shoulder.

"Hello Rodger." Cedric greeted. Heather frowned. _'I dunno which is worse, tweadle dee or tweadle dum. . . .' _

"Diggory" Roger nodded. "Well, I'll talk to you later then." Roger said. He then grabbed Heather's hand and placed a lingering kiss on it. "EW!" She shouted as she snatched her hand back. She rubbed her hand off on her jeans while she muttered less then ladylike curses under her breath about Davies.

"Stupid git." Ron said. "I truly commend you for leaving that fellow." Percy added. "Yeah whatever." Heather muttered as she continued up to their seats. Their only other interruption was when they ran into the Malfoy's at the top box leaving Harry in a less then pleasant mood. After a while the mood began to lift as they began playing with the omimonoculars that Harry had bought. "Wild! I can make that old bloke down there pick his nose again. . . and again . . . and again. . ." Ron laughed.

Soon it was time for the game to begin. "Ladies and Gentlemen. . . . Welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!" The crowd roared with approval. "And now, without further ado, please allow me to introduce. . . . the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!"

The fans shouted eagerly. About a hundred beautiful women glided out onto the field and began to dance. "Wow, I've never seen a real veela before." Heather said to Gorge who was on her right.

Gorge however was paying no attention to Heather Whatsoever. The twins were busy doing everything in their power to try and jump over the railing. "Oh for Merlin's sake." Heather sighed exasperatedly.

She grabbed the neck of both of their robes and slapped them hard across the face. "Thanks." They said. Heather rolled her eyes and looked around at the other males around. She couldn't help but laugh, Ron was drooling and Harry had one foot over the railing. She looked down and Saw Cedric with his fingers in his ears. _'Well now, he's not as dumb as he looks now is he?'_

Cedric chose that moment to look up. He smiled up at her for a moment before he continued to watch the women dance.

After thousands of men had been pulled back into their seats, the announcer continued. "And now please kindly put your wands in the air for the Irish National Team Mascots!" Green-and-gold blurs zipped around the stadium and formed a gigantic shamrock high above the stadium. The people cheered as the leprechauns began raining down gold coins.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, kindly welcome- the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team! I give you- Dimitrov! Ivanova! Zograf! Levski! Vulchanov! Volkov! Aaaaaaand- _Krum_!" Half of the stadium was on its feet cheering on the Bulgarians. "And now, please greet- the Irish National Quidditch Team! Presenting- Connolly! Ryan! Troy! Mullet! Moran! Quigley! Aaaaaand- Lynch!"

"Yeah!! Go Ireland! C'mon!" The boys were screaming.

"And let the games begin!" The commentator shouted. The four balls burst into the air and the game began.

The Irish quickly took possession of the ball. After a few minutes of fierce fighting, the Irish scored. Cheers erupted from the Irish fans. The game went on fantastically, it had to be the best match Heather had ever been to.

"Look at them go!" Charlie screamed, pointing at the Seekers. Krum and Lynch were diving towards the ground. Heather leaned forward in her seat. Neither had seen the Snitch and she knew it, the Snitch was right in front of her face. Krum pulled out of the dive a second before, but Lynch missed and smashed into the ground.

"What a great fake out!" She heard Bill cry. The game got even dirtier after that. The Bulgarians were fouling people right and left. When the veela were happy after scoring they had begun to dance. Much to the crowd's amusement the referee landed in front of them and proceeded to flex his muscles and smooth his hair. A mediwizard had to kick him in the shins to draw him out of his trance.

Then the ref tried to send the veela off the field. The Bulgarian Beaters landed next to him and began arguing which earned them two more penalties. The veela were furious. They started throw balls of fire everywhere, that is to say at the Referee and the leprechauns.

During the madness the snitch had been spotted, for real this time. The two seekers dove for the small flying orb as fast as they could. Krum caught the snitch and ended the game. Ireland had won being ahead by only ten points. The Ireland fans screamed and cheered in delight.

"My God that match was bloody brilliant!" Heather said as the group made their way back to the tent. Fred and Gorge had apparently won quite a sum of money on the match and were in high spirits. Heather jumped onto Gorge's back and he was carrying her while he was dancing around with Fred.

"That was great match huh?" said a voice from behind.

George turned around to see who the owner of the voice was. Cedric was clearly thrilled about the outcome of the match. His cheeks were flushed and he was laughing and cheering with the rest of the Ireland fans. "HELL YES IT WAS A GREAT MATCH!" Heather crowed. Gorge spun around and Heather flung out her arms as he spun. The others laughed at their enthusiasm. "Now if you'll excuse us, we have some excessive partying to do, ONWARD MY FAITHFUL STUD!" Heather said as they took off in the direction of the tents.

Cedric chuckled and went on celebrating.

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**So what did you people think? **

**So I did my job as a writer by typing this thing out, now it's you're turn to do your part and review! C'mon, you know you want to. I know how may hit's this site gets, the least you people could do it review. I NEED THE ENCOURAGEMENT! LOL**

**Until next time dear readers. . . **

**-BellaCantante359**


	3. Chapter 3

Authors note: So I heard this hailariously funny joke the other day:

**Authors note: So I heard this hilariously funny joke the other day:**

**Why did the monkey fall out of the tree? Because he died. But what did the second monkey fall out of the tree? Well duh, he was tied to the first monkey. Now, why did the third monkey fall out of the tree? Peer Pressure. So then why did the squirrel fall out of the tree? Well you see, the poor thing thought it was a monkey. . . **

**LMFAO! Even though it's stupid I still think it's funny.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters no matter how many times I've begged Santa to give me Cedric wrapped up in my stocking. . . . However, all of the original characters that appear in this story belong to ME! And seeing as some of the characters in the books are not known by their first name I will simple make them up so there.**

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**Chapter three: Under attack**

After much celebrating in the fact that Ireland had won the cup Mr. Weasley announced that it was time to go to bed.

"Awwwwwwwww, do we have to?" Heather whined, she was still pumped form the match. Never in all her life had she had a time as grand as this. "Yes I'm afraid so dear; we want to get up early so we can get an early portkey out of here." The youth of the group groaned upon hearing this.

"This should be called in for child abuse!" Fred exclaimed. "Who on earth makes their own flesh and blood wake up at an un-godly hour and hike around in the dark for days?" Everyone laughed as they went to their separate tents to retire for the night.

"This has been the BEST night of my life." Heather stated as she was pulling off her shoes and climbing into bed. The other two girls mumbled in agreement. It wasn't long before Heather was sound asleep and dreaming of quidditch.

Heather was back at the quidditch match, Krum and Lynch were neck and neck, diving for the snitch, the crowd was screaming. Oh man the stands were going wild. The noise was deafening.

Heather felt herself being shaken awake rather roughly. "Wake up, we have to get you girls out of here." "Huh? The game's almost over. . ." Heather mumbled still half asleep.

"Heather wake up, you have to get out, the camp is under attack." Bill said in an urgent whisper. That sobered her up. "What?!" He jumped out of bed and grabbed her wand and her shoes. She heard the screams. She could see the fire glowing through the canvas of the tent. "Go for the woods, we'll meet up later, Follow Hermione and Ginny." Heather Nodded and ran out.

What she saw shocked and appalled her. Wizards in dark robes and hoods had an entire family dangling in the air. "Sweet Merlin. . ." She breathed. _'They're really back. . . .'_ She thought with a shudder. "Heather Come on!" It was Harry, Ron and Hermione. They took off in the direction of the woods. Heather ran after them. She was running, but in the masses of terrified witches and wizards she tripped and fell losing her wand in the process.

She found herself looking at a large pair of boots. "Well, well, well. What do have here my brother? It looks as if we have a young mudblood." The hooded figure said. "Yes," the second said, "She's rather fetching for a filthy half breed though."

They yanked her up to her feet and twisted her arms behind her back. _'Oh my God. . . Please help me!'_ Heather screwed her eyes shut. _'Oh God. . . . Help.'_ She thought. She took a deep breath then the leader raised his wand, she looked right into the cruel eyes of the mask.

"Unhand her!" A voice cried. The leader whirled around to find the voice that had challenged him. Cedric fired a spell at the dark wizard and charged. They dueled for a few moments before the dark mark was cast in the air. The two deatheaters looked to the skies and apperated away. Heather tried to get up off of the ground only to find that she had sprained her ankle, badly.

"Here, let me help you." Cedric offered. "I'm fine." Heather snapped. She went to take another step and fell to the floor.

"Maybe I do need a little help." She admitted grudgingly. Cedric picked her up bridal style and ran with her to the woods. He found a small cave and they hid in there, the screams still hadn't subsided. The appearance of the mark only intensified the panic.

'_So. . . . I'm stuck in a small dark place with the one and only golden boy. . . .' _She smirked to herself. '_Oh man, if Cecily only knew. . .'_ She chuckled at the thought. "What's so funny?"

The sudden voice suddenly brought her back to the situation at hand. She was alone, with Diggory, in a cave, in the dark. . . Oh this is not going to be good.

"Oh nothing, just thinking." She answered. _'Yes, brush him off with the typical "GIRL" answer.' _"Oh come on, do you really think I'm going to fall for that one?" He said. Heather's face fell.

"Why do you hate me?" He asked in a light but serious tone.

'_Oh Christ, this is karma isn't it. I should never have jinxed Ron_'s _undies to sing God save the queen. . .'_

"I don't _hate _you." She said.

"Then why the cold shoulder?" He asked. "It's because you're a boy and you have cooties." She joked. He smiled at her. "Do you take anything seriously?"

"Why should I?" She answered, desperate to change the topic. "Life is a gift, I intend to enjoy it, I don't want to keel over and die all the while wishing that I hadn't taken my life so seriously, that I should have taken the time to stop and smell the roses."

He laughed quietly to himself; He then noticed that she was trembling. In the rush to leave the camp site she hadn't grabbed a cloak. He took off his coat and put it around her shoulders. "Here, take this, you're shivering." She was going to protest, but the warmth from the jacket was so soothing and inviting. "Thanks. . ." She said.

He looked at her and was about to say something when there was suddenly a bright light. "Hello in there!" It was Charlie.

"Charlie!" Heather yelled. "What's going on? Did you find who started all this?" She asked. She still needed Cedric's help getting out of the cave seeing as her ankle was swollen. "No, they escaped when the mark went in the air. What the hell happened to your foot?" He asked when he saw that Heather was actually allowing "golden boy" to help her out of the cave.

"I tripped and fell, I sprained it." She said. "Then two deatheaters caught me, Diggory came and fought them off." She finished. Charlie took her from Cedric and started walking back to camp. "You sir, need to be commended, not many young men would be able to take on two deatheaters." "Thank you, but I was just trying to save Heather." Cedric said modestly.

'_Sheesh, like he didn't have the 'aw shucks' thing down to a pat before he sure does now. . . And the thing is that he's completely sincere. NO ONE'S THAT PERFECT!'_ Heather didn't even realize she was scowling until Charlie spoke up.

"My that's some face you've got, does your ankle hurt that much?" "Huh? Oh yeah, I tweaked it pretty good. . ." She answered. "Well, we'll have Bill check it out when we get you back to the tent. I swear, this never would have happened if you weren't such a bloody klutz." He said wickedly. She smacked him upside the head as they entered the tent.

"Heather! Thank Merlin you're safe. You were supposed to follow Ron into the woods." Arthur cried. "What in the name of magic did you do to your foot?" "She tripped and managed sprain her ankle getting caught in the process." Charlie explained. There was a collective gasp from around the room. Heather rolled her eyes heavenward. "It seems as though young Mr. Diggory found her and saved her."

'_Here it comes. . .'_

Everyone began talking at once. "My what a brave boy you are." Said Ginny shyly. "That's my boy!" Amos cried. The chatter went on like that for a while, Charlie was talking so animatedly that he almost dropped Heather. Bill walked over and took Heather from Charlie and set her down on one of the bunks so he could properly examine her foot.

"You really did a number on your foot this time, it's really swollen." Bill assessed. "Thank you so much captain obvious, but do you think you could magic it back to normal size?" She retorted. He chuckled and got to work. "You know, you really owe him a thank you." Bill said. "I know. . . . I'll. . . .Say something. . . " She finished lamely. "There, Good as new." Bill said as he admired his handiwork.

"Thanks Bill." She said as she rubbed her foot, her ankle still hurt a little bit, but at lest it wasn't swollen anymore. "Get some sleep, we're going to be out of here in a few hours, Mum's worried sick." He ruffled her hair and left the tent.

Heather sighed and got under the covers of the small cot. A few moments later she heard Ginny and Hermione come in. Not wanting to recount the nights activities she pretended to be asleep. The girls spotted her on the cot and quietly went to sleep. Heather knew that they would drag every agonizing detail out of her later, but right now she was just too tired to think. _'I'll say thank you in the morning. . .' _She thought as she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

The next morning the camp site was a chaotic mess, everyone was trying to get a portkey out as soon as possible. After the tents were broken down Heather grudgingly walked over to the Diggory camp site. Ginny and Hermione went with her to A; see that she actually went to say something, and B; to catch yet another glimpse of the Hogwarts heartthrob. When they arrived at the site all they found was an empty patch of grass.

"Huh? Where'd they go?" Heather asked to no one in particular. "The Diggory's took an early portkey out last night." Said a wizard from the ministry. "Well, I guess that you're off the hook for now." Hermione said. "But you should still say something." She chided. "Yes mother." Heather said.

Internally half of her was doing the happy dance because she didn't have to talk to Cedric, but the other half was sorry because she really wanted to thank him, he'd really saved her neck.

"Come on you lot, we have to get out of here, Molly's sent four owls in the past half hour." Hollered Mr. Weasley from across the way. The girls followed orders and once again grabbed a-hold of the portkey, this one was in the form of an old broken tire. Heather felt herself being yanked backwards and once again fell to the floor as she landed. They silently made the hike back to the Burrow.

Molly was waiting up for them. "Oh thank Merlin you're all safe, I've been worried sick!" She said as she rushed forward to grab Ginny in a bone crushing hug. "Mum. . . Can't. . . Breathe. . ." Molly let her go and hugged Arthur for dear life. She ushered the group of kids up to their rooms for some sleep. Heather climbed the old stairs up to Ginny's room, she found that her trunk with all of her stuff had been sent here.

"Mum said that you're staying with us until it's time to go back to Hogwarts, she doesn't like you staying at the leaky cauldron." Ginny said as she pulled off her shoes. Heather wasn't going to complain, she loved staying at the Burrow. It was like her home. She needed to owl Madam Makin and tell her that she would need to use the fireplace to get to work. And she need to clear up the fee's with Tom for staying at the inn. . .

Ginny and Hermione had fallen asleep already, but Heather wasn't tired, her mind was still reeling from what had happen at the cup.

'_Why would they choose now to show up?'_

_**Because he's getting stronger.'**_

'_Who are you?'_

'_**You know me, I'm that annoying little voice in everyone's head the offers advice and points out when your wrong. . .' **_

'_Sheesh, you sound like a major kill joy. . .'_

'_**I am. . . That's why I love my job.'**_

'_Riiiiight'_

'_**Anyway, the dark lord is getting stronger; he has been for the past few years. Harry's going to have his hands full.'**_

'_I know, I'm just. . .' _

'_**Frightened?'**_

'_What!? NO! . . . . Well, maybe a little. . .' _

'_**Let's face it, you're scared stiff, and if it weren't for Cedric your ass would have been grass.'**_

'_. . . . .' _

'_**This is the part where you say "You're right."'**_

'_Shut up.'_

Heather didn't feel like sleeping, and being left alone with her thoughts no longer seemed like a good idea. She got up and made her way down the stairs. Maybe Molly was up.

She was near the last step when she heard Fred and George talking. "That rat fink! He cheated us!"

'_Hmmmm, I wonder what all this is about?' _She knocked and walked in. "What are my two favorite twins up to?" She asked.

"Bagman cheated us out of the winnings from the match! How are we supposed to open the shop now?" Heather knew about the shop, she even came up with the name for them. The twins were bloody brilliant, there was no denying that, but without the money to start the business they were stuck.

They tried to figure out how to get Bagman to cough up the cash for about an hour. After a while Heather began to lose interest and wandered downstairs.

"Hullo Molly." She greeted. Molly was busy in the kitchen trying to get lunch ready for everyone. "Is there anything I can do to help?" She asked, even though she knew the answer. "Oh no dear, I have it covered, you just sit back and rest." Heather talked with Molly for about an hour before she decided that she needed to have things settled in Diagon Alley.

"Molly, I have to get to take off for a bit, I need to take care of things at the inn and I have to get to work, but I'll be home in a few hours." Mrs. Weasley clucked like a mother hen for what seemed like an eternity. "You shouldn't have to work, you're still a child, you need to enjoy your life."

Heather laughed, "I am enjoying my life, but I can't touch the money in the bank until after I graduate, I need something to buy my school supplies with, and I love Madam Makin, she's like a crazy old aunt."

After some more convincing Heather was flooing to the shop. "Oof!" She grunted as she fell hard onto the ground. "I'm never gonna get used to that. . ." She grumbled. "Heather? Is that you dear?" Came a sweet voice.

Madam Makin walked into the back room and helped to brush Heather off. "Hi Emmi." Heather said.

"I was so frightened when I read what had happened at the cup, oh I'm so glad that you're okay, I was worried sick!" Madam Makin said. "I'm fine Emmi, we got out safely." Heather decided against telling Emmi about the whole Cedric saving her life thing, the last thing Diggory needed was another female fan.

Emmi sighed and stepped back. "Well, you're just on time, We're going to have the Hogwarts crowd coming in a few days." She said as she went back to the front of the shop. "But why on earth did you floo here child? Merlin knows that you have never mastered a graceful landing."

Heather rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the vote of confidence." She said with sarcasm. "Molly wants me to stay at the Burrow until I go back to school, she thinks _'Its unfitting for a young woman to be staying in the dingy old inn day and night, no no no, that will never do. . .' _" Heather finished her perfect imitation of Mrs. Weasley.

Emmi laughed, the imitation was uncanny. "Well I can't wait until we find out whether or not you passed the apperation test. At least then you won't be thumping about my fireplace day and night." She joked. Heather laughed and went on back and put on the robes that all employees had to wear. They were a modest black color with pink lettering just above the left breast that read **MADAME MAKINS ROBES FOR EVERY OCCASION. **

Work was slow; the only one's bothering to come in was an elderly witch wanting violet colored robes and a young wizard in need of something for a formal banquet.

"Go ahead and go home, I'll close up here, not much business today." Emmi remarked. Heather gave her a grateful look and hurried to the back to change out of her uniform. Ten minuets later after Heather had taken care of her fees at the inn she was falling face first into the Weasley's kitchen. "Hello dear, how were things at the shop?" Molly asked as she diced an onion. "It was okay, kinda slow. Where are the boys?" Heather asked as she disentangled herself from the coat rack she's knocked over upon her arrival. Molly pointed to the living room where everyone was gathered.

To the left, Hermione was buried in an ancient looking book and Harry was losing a game of wizards chess against Ron, Ginny watched on in interest. The twins were at the opposite end of the room, huddled together muttering about prices. Bill was asleep on the couch and Charlie was nowhere to be found.

'_My what a lively bunch. Oh well, I guess I'll just go to bed.'_ She said her good nights and climbed up the stairs to Ginny's room.

To her surprise she found a small owl on her bed. It hooted softly at her. "Well hello, who are you?" She asked it. It held out its leg for her. She grabbed the small note attached. _**To Ms. Foxx **_was printed neatly across the front of the envelope. _'Who the heck is sending me a letter?' _She opened the envelope and began to read.

_**Dear Ms. Foxx,**_

_**It is our pleasure to inform you that you have passed your apperation test. . . . **_

Heather didn't even bother to read the rest, she dropped the letter and popped into the living room.

"Hi guys." She grinned seeing as she had scared the wits out of Bill who was now roused from his slumber.

_**POP**_

"What are you doing?" She asked Ginny, but before the girl could answer Heather had apperated next to Ron and Harry.

_**POP**_

"Can I play next?"

_**POP**_

"What are you reading?"

_**POP**_

"I'm hungry."

_**POP**_

"When's dinner?"

_**POP**_

"ENOUGH!" They all hollered. "What?" She asked in an innocent tone that didn't seem to match the devilish grin she wore. "Well congrats on passing the test mate." Bill said. "But do ya think you could cool it?" He asked. She laughed and said good night before she apperated upstairs to go to sleep.

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**Ha ha ha ha, that was fun to write. Anyway you know the drill, now go and give me lots and lots or reviews!**

**I love you all. 3**

**-BellaCantante359**

_n_


	4. Chapter 4

**So yeah, here's chapter four. **

**. . . . . . . . **

**I can't think of anything witty to say.**

**Disclaimer: Do I look like J. K. Rowling? I don't? Awwwww, too bad, that means that none of the Harry Potter characters belong to me. HOWEVER, since I am not a complete moron and I do have a creative side all original characters appearing throughout the story do infact belong to me.**

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**Chapter four: IT WASN'T A DATE!**

Heather enjoyed her time at the Weasley's, she spent her morning s talking to molly, then in the afternoon she would go with everyone to the little lake that was just over the hill, or she would watch the boys while they played quidditch. Then she would go to work and hang around Diagon Ally until it was time to go back to the Burrow for dinner.

One morning Heather came down for breakfast to find a grand total of eight owls waiting on the window ledge.

"Well now, it looks to be that time of year again." Heather commented to herself as she walked towards the owls to receive her letter. To her surprise she found that two of the owls came forward. One of them was from Hogwarts with the usual "Buy these books" list, and the second was from Emmi, begging her to come in to work because she wasn't sure she could handle all of the new first years by herself, the only other assistant was out with dragon pox .

Heather laughed as she fixed herself some coffee as Molly came down. "Oh good morning dear, did you sleep well?" She asked. "Yes I did thank you." She said as she took of sip of her coffee. "The letters came." Heather said motioning to the letters waiting to be opened on the dining room table. Molly sighed and began to cook breakfast. "I dread when those letters come every year, trying to buy all of the supplies for all of the children is madness, Diagon Ally is an absolute madhouse this time of year.

Heather chuckled. "Don't I know it, Madam Makin is pleading me to come in and work, she's afraid to handle all of the new first years alone, you know how squirmy they are." They both laughed as Molly slid a piling plate in front of her laden with bacon, eggs, ham, sausage, and several other breakfast items. "Good God, how am I supposed to eat all that!?" Heather said as she stared at the plate in wonder.

"You'd better eat it, you're far too skinny." Mrs. Weasley clucked as she continued to bustle about the kitchen. Heather rolled her eyes and attempted to eat as much as she could. _'Too skinny my arse, since I've gotten here my jeans fit a little tighter, but then again, I do suppose I'd lost a bit of weight living at the inn. . .' _

Heather had cleared almost half of her plate before she called it quits. "Urgh, if I eat any more I think I'm going to explode." She said as she pushed the plate away form her. Heather had always had a healthy appetite, in fact, she ate more then the boys did at times. Fred swears to this day that she has hollow legs to hold all of the food she eats.

Heather grabbed her bag and said her goodbyes to the boys as they were heading down to breakfast, having been tempted down by the smell of fresh beacon and eggs. She apperated to the shop and got her uniform on, there were already several customers waiting to be helped.

"Oh thank Merlin you're here." Emmi sighed with relief. "Quick, go and help the McNally's, they've been waiting for ages." Heather went to help the McNally's, they had three children in need of new robes. Two first year boys and one sixth year girl from Hufflepuff. Heather sighed and got to work on the two boys, she could see that they were already bored and were poking at the magic steamer.

The morning went by quickly, customers came in and out, mostly for new Hogwarts robes. Heather was just finishing up a young Ravenclaw's robes when there was the tell tale tinkling of the bell signaling that there was yet another customer that needed to be helped. "I'll be with you in just a sec." Heather said as she put the final stitch on the young Ravenclaw's skirt. "There you go." She said as Madam Makin was talking to her parents about prices.

Heather got up and went to help the person that had just walked in. "Welcome to Madam Makin's robes for every occasion, how may I help…. Oh, hi. . . ." Standing before her was none other then Cedric. He smiled warmly at her. "Hello Heather, How are you?" He asked. "I'm- Um, Good." She answered.

'_What the heck is he doing here?' _

'_**Duh, he needs new robes.'**_

'_Urgh, go away.'_

Madam Makin came and began talking to Cedric. "Oh hello dear, so lovely to see you again."

'_Gag, he's even managed to charm Emmi.' _

The bell chimed again and Heather went to check on the new customers. "Oh I'll take care of them dear, you took care of the two first year twins, I'll take care of these." Emmi said smiling knowingly as she glanced at Cedric.

'_What the hell is she grinning about?' _Heather sighed and turned to face the golden boy of Hogwarts.

"What can I do for you?" She asked politely. "I need a pair of dress robes and I need to have the head boy badge placed on my robes." He said. "Head boy huh? Wow that must have come as a shock." Heather said sarcastically. He either chose to ignore her cynicism or it flew over his head. She was letting out the hem of his robes since he had grown a few inches over the summer when she mumbled thank you.

"I'm sorry . . ." He said, not having caught what she had said. She sighed. "I said thank you."

He looked puzzled. "For what?" He asked. She inwardly groaned and went on. "For what you did back at the world cup, thank you." She said without looking up form her work. They were quiet for a moment. "Your welcome." He said.

She quickly finished up his robes and walked him over to the register. She rang him up and handed him his purchase back. Madam Makin came over and said, "Why don't you take a break dear, you've been working non-stop, you could get your school shopping done." Emmi smiled wickedly, "In fact, why don't you go and get your shopping done with Mr. Diggory here, it's not fitting for a young woman your age to wandering around here by herself. . ."

'_Noooooooooo! No no no no no no no no !! What are you doing!?'_

"Oh no, I'm sure that _Mr. Diggory _has better things to do then to follow me around all day while I go and buy my books. . ." "It's not a problem." Cedric interjected.

'_NOOOOOOOOOO!' That's it, I am soooo going to Avada Kadavra her arse.' _Heather thought as she felt her work robes being lifted off of her. Emmi was pulling her robes off and handing Heather her messenger bag, she all but shoved them out of the shop.

It took Heather a moment to fully asses what had just happened. She was going shopping, WITH DIGGORY!

'_**This should prove to be a very interesting afternoon.'**_

'_. . . . . . . . . . .'_

"So, where to first?" Cedric asked with a smirk. Heather was to busy trying to think of ways to murder Emmi to answer. Cedric pulled out his Hogwarts list and looked at it. "Well, why don't we go and get our books first." He suggested. Heather nodded as they started toward flourish and blots.

They had finished their shopping fairly quickly, they seemed to be taking the same classes, the only difference was that she was taking ancient runes and he was taking advance arithmacy, but other then that the rest of the books were the same. They made a quick stop in quality quidditch supplies to look around; Heather had to pull him by the collar away from the firebolts.

"C'mon pretty boy, you're drooling on the carpet." She said as she led him out of the store.

"Hmmmm, books, quills, ink, parchment, ingredients. . . . It looks like we got everything." She said. "Yep, it looks like we covered all the bases," He agreed. "But there is one more thing that we need." Puzzled Heather looked through her bag once more. Nope, everything seemed to be there, what was golden boy thinking of that she was missing?

He grabbed her arm and steered her up the ally. "Where are we going?" She asked. He didn't answer; he just kept leading her through the crowd. He stopped in front of Florean Fortescue's ice cream Parlor.

"Two cones please." Cedric asked. _'Ice cream?' _Cedric paid the man for the ice creams and handed one to Heather.

'_Yummm, mint chip. . . . Wait a sec, how did he know what kind of ice cream I like?' _

'_**Think about it later, just dive into that minty chocolaty goodness.'**_

'_For once, I think I agree.'_

Heather took a lick of her ice cream and her eyes closed in pleasure. Cedric smiled as he ate his cone. He walked her back to the shop and bade her goodbye. "So I'll see you around again sometime?" He asked. "I guess so, seeing as we are going back to school and all. . ." She stammered.

'_Awkwardness!! Why is this awkward!?' _Heather thought. "Well, I guess I'll see you on the train then." He winked and walked away.

She watched him walk away and was left in such a state of confusion that she didn't even notice that Emmi was following her around trying to get the 'details' out of her.

'_What the hell did he wink at me for?'_

'_**. . . . .'**_

'_Who the hell said he could do that anyway?'_

'_**. . . . . . . .'**_

'_Ahem, I believe that it is your turn to tell me just what the hell that was.'_

'_**But this is more fun.'**_

'_Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrhg! You suck you know that?'_

'_**Bwa ha ha ha ha . . .'**_

"Will you come out of la la land and tell me how your date was!" Emmi hollered. "Arhg! Bloody hell woman, I don't want to go deaf!" Heather snapped irritably. "And it wasn't a date, it was one student being forced to go shopping with another student by a crazy old seamstress!" Heather bit back. Emmi laughed and muttered something to herself that sounded dangerously close to 'Young love.'

"Don't you go and get anymore crazy idea's old woman, I know where you sleep." Heather threatened. Emmi laughed and put her back to work.

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**Okay, I know that it's a little short but It's late. . . Or early, which ever way you look at it and the fact of the matter is I need sleep. LOL  
**

**Please PLEASE PLEASE review. I'm looking forward to posting the next chapter, but I want people to REVIEW!!**

**Until my next post,**

**-BellaCantante359**


	5. Chapter 5

So are you people ready to read chapter five

**So are you people ready to read chapter five? YOU ARE!? Well then, let's not keep you waiting, on to the next chapter. . . After the disclaimer.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter characters, those belong to my good friend J.K. Rowling. She says if I'm a good girl I can use them. . . . I hate being good. Anyway, all original characters are mine.**

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**Chapter five: Homeward Bound**

The rest of the summer past fairly quickly, before anyone knew it, it was time to head back to good old Hogwarts. The morning the train left the Weasley household was in utter chaos. "Where is my other shoe!?" Ginny hollered franticly, she was hopping around with one shoe on while she was hurriedly searching for the other. "Who gives a cares about your stupid shoe, has anyone seen my underwear!?" Fred shouted.

Heather was busy trying to cram the last of her things into her trunk. It's amazing how she had only been at the burrow for a few weeks and her stuff had found its way all over the house. She finished stuffing her trunk and used the locomotor charm on to get it down stairs. When she had safely put her things in the trunk of the ministry car she went back into the house to watch the rest of the madness.

After much shouting, and laughing on Heather's part, the Weasley's were ready to go. They arrived at Kings Cross fifteen minuets before the train was supposed to leave. Heather angled her cart to the wall between the platforms nine and ten and took a deep breath.

'_Okay, now is the time to forget everything I ever learned about what happens when you run head first at a brick wall. . .'_

She ran strait for the wall and closed her eyes right before she hit the wall. She made it through to the other side without a scratch. _'I hate that bloody wall.' _She thought with a shiver. She soon forgot her bitterness when she took in the sight around her.

The scarlet steam engine was filled with students hanging out the windows waving franticly at loved ones. She saw the new first years being hugged and kissed by their parents. The poor things looked like they were going to die of embarrassment as they were fussed over.

"Oh my baby's growing up!" Wailed a middle aged witch, she was griping a young boy to her chest tightly. "Mum. . . Please let go. . ." The boy begged as his face became steadily redder.

Heather watched the young boy and his mother in amusement until the others had made it safely through the wall. "Shall we?" The twins chimed as they held out their arms. "Yes, we shall." Heather said. She entwined her arms with theirs as they skipped, yes skipped to the train. It took forever, but they finally found an empty compartment. "Well, ta ta for now, George and I have to find Lee." The twins curtsied and left.

Heather closed her eyes to relax, she thinking of the wonderful feast and that soft bed that was waiting for her back at the castle. And the kitchen, she smiled to herself as she thought about those wonderful little house elves running around the kitchen and bringing impossible amounts of food. She felt someone standing over her. Assuming it was one of the twins Heather continued to think about Hogwarts. It wasn't until she felt a pair of lips upon her own that her eyes shot open.

She put her hands up and shoved the intruder back roughly. "Hello love, did you miss me?"

"Roger! Get out of here!" She spat as she raked her sleeve across her mouth. _'Blech!'_

Roger smirked at her and advanced again. "What's the matter darling, is that anyway to treat your boyfriend?"

"You dolt, we broke up SEVEN MONTHS ago, now get out!" Roger didn't get the hint and again came forward. "Corapotulis!" Heather cried as she hit him with a blasting curse. Roger flew backwards out of the compartment and landed across the hall. "Don't you EVER come at me like that again Roger Davies or I SWEAR that I will break everything in your body. IS. THAT. CLEAR!" She hissed.

Roger got up and blew her a kiss before walking away down the hall. Heather was furious, all she could see was red. She raised her arm to hit him with another curse when someone caught her hand. She whirled around to hex whoever tried to stop her and came face to face with Ryan.

"He's not worth it." She said with sad eyes. "Oh yes he is." Heather growled. She tried to lunge for the retreating Ravenclaw when she was dragged back into the compartment by Ryan.

'_Damn, for a book worm she has quite a grip!' _

Heather reluctantly gave up and began talking to Ryan about their summers. Ryan had gone to France with her parents and had a lovely time. Heather told her about her time spent at the Weasley's and about how Madam Malkin had made her go shopping with Diggory.

"So you went on a date?" Ryan asked bewildered.

"Gods no! I was forced I tell you, Emmi practically threw me out of the store and into his arms." Heather fumed.

Ryan arched an eyebrow. "Really?" "YES!" Heather shouted. Ryan laughed and the train began to move. The twins found their way back to the compartment and brought a few friends, meaning Angalina, Katie, Alicia, Oliver and Lee.

"YES! We're all together for our last year at Hogwarts!" Heather said. "This calls for a speech." She announced as she climbed up onto the seat. She cleared her throat and put on a serious face. "I would like to thank that academy for this award. . . . No, that's not right. Four score and seven years ago. . . . No, that's not it either. . . . Oh screw it. Let's make this the most kick arse year to ever be recorded in Hogwarts a history!!"

The small group laughed and cheered as the train started sped off toward their home away from home.

They had been on the train for what seemed like hours and Heather was bored, lets face it, there are only so many times a witch could play exploding snap. It was already dark outside, she figured they must have been getting close. She grabbed her knapsack and headed for the changing rooms.

She changed into her uniform, she hated the bloody skirt. _'Stupid useless things, I'll freeze to death in this thing. What's the matter with Jeans?' _ Sadly girls had to wear skirts as apart of the dress code. She tried protesting, this resulted in a month and a half's worth of detention with McGonagall. She looked at her self in the mirror. She scowled at the reflection as she loosened her tie and walked out to head back to her compartment.

She was half way there when she saw Roger.

"Shit." She ran to the nearest compartment and quickly shut the door. She ducked down so she wouldn't be seen; she peeked out the window to see if it was clear. She breathed a sigh of relief as Roger walked by, and she was quite pleased to note that he was now sporting a black eye. She turned around to find several confused looking Hufflepuffs. "Hi." Cedric said.

'_Sweet Merlin, of all of the damn compartments why did I have to chose this one!?'_

'_**Because, you can't avoid fate.'**_

'_Huh?'_

'_**. . . . .'**_

'_No wait! Come back here!'_

She got up and looked around nervously. "Uhhh, Hi." She said. _'Christ, could you sound anymore retarded?' _

"What may I ask brings such a lovely young lady to our compartment?" Asked one of the boys. "Cedric." Said another. They boys laughed and Cedric looked self-conscious.

"For your information I was hiding from the resident psycho." Heather huffed. Why did everything have to be about Mr. Perfect? "Is Roger still giving you a hard time?" Cedric asked with concern. Heather just frowned, what was he so concerned for? It's not like she didn't handle it.

"Well, it's been fun boys I but I must be off, ta ta." She said as she grabbed her knapsack, she was about to leave when she remembered that she still had golden boy's jacket. "Erm, Diggory, can I talk to you for a sec?" She asked. The boys hooted and jeered at Cedric. She rolled her eyes. "Oh come off it." She said as she exited the compartment.

"Soooo, what did you want to tell me?" Cedric asked playfully. Heather rolled her eyes heavenward and pulled his jacket of her bag. "I wanted to give this back to you, I didn't want to give it to you in there for obvious reasons." Heather said as she nodded her head in the direction of the compartment.

"I'm sorry about that, they were just messing around. . . I'm sorry if they offended you." Cedric said as he took his jacket out of her hands. Heather smirked at him. "Yeah, we don't let it happen again pretty boy." And with that she was walking down the corridor back to her compartment.

Cedric smiled to himself as he tucked the jacket under his arm as he walked back to his compartment, it still was warm and is smelled like sandal wood.

He remembered the first time he saw her. It was their first trip on the Hogwarts Express and she had just hexed to a bunch of third years. They were making fun of the way a young second year was talking, Ellie was her name. She was lovely, but she had a thick accent and it was hard to understand her. Heather walked right over to them and let them have it.

She hexed them all so they had Yellow boils. Cedric had been angered by the way the older kids had been treating the other girl, but never in his life would he have hexed them so. He chuckled to himself and let himself back into the compartment. She never liked him much, he wasn't really sure why. Heather was interesting; spunky and bright. The faculty thinks she's a bloody nuisance, but there's no denying her talents. She could do N.E.W.T. level spells in her fifth year.

Cedric was glad she was in his year, this was their last, and there wasn't a doubt in his mind that she would make it interesting.

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**Okay okay, I know it's a little short again, but a girl needs her sleep right, especially if she expects to do well on her Sociology test. I really should start writing earlier in the day; I normally start around ten o'clock at night and finish late.**

**So what do you think? Please give me some feed back. Do you like how it's going so far? Please review, I love reading them. **

**Until we meet again. . . .**

**Humbly yours,**

**-BellaCantante359**


	6. Chapter 6

**So yeah. . . Chapter six.**

**Discliamer: I do not own any of the HP cast, all OC are mine.**

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**Chapter six: It's good to be home.**

Heather and her friends walked in to the great hall and took their seats at the Gryffindor table. The noise of the room was deafening, there was constant chatter about how everyone's summer had been and greetings for old friends.

Heather turned her head toward the staff table to scope out the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. The seat was empty. "Do you suppose that they couldn't find anyone for the job?" Ryan asked as she nodded to the staff table. The chatter came to a halt as the doors to the great hall opened.

McGonagall lead the way with the terrified looking first years. "I swear they're getting smaller." Angelina said. "I know!" Heather interjected. "It's like that movie with the yellow street! You know with the munchkins! You half expect them to be popping out of flower beds!" Her friends looked at her as if she were mad, which she is to an extent. "What's a Moo V?" George asked. Ryan was very patient and tried to explain the popular muggle pastime to the red head.

"Will you shut up Dennis, the hat's gonna sing!" Heather whispered excitedly.

Indeed the worn looking hat resting upon the stool in the front of the room broke into song.

_**A thousand years or more ago,**_

_**  
When I was newly sewn,  
**_

_**There lived four wizards of renown,  
**_

_**Whose names are still well known:  
**_

_**Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor,  
**_

_**Fair Ravenclaw, from glen,  
**_

_**Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad,  
**_

_**Shrewd Slytherin from fen.  
**_

_**They shared a wish, a hope, a dream,  
**_

_**They hatched a daring plan  
**_

_**To educate young sorcerors  
**_

_**Thus Hogwarts school began.  
**_

_**Now each of these four founders  
**_

_**Formed their own house, for each  
**_

_**Did value different virtues  
**_

_**In the one's they had to teach.  
**_

_**By Gryffindor, the bravest were  
**_

_**Prized far beyond the rest;  
**_

_**For Ravenclaw, the cleverest  
**_

_**Would always be the best;  
**_

_**For Hufflepuff, hard workers were  
**_

_**Most worthy of admission;  
**_

_**And power-hungry Slytherin  
**_

_**Loved those of great ambition.  
**_

_**While still alive they did divide  
**_

_**Their favourites from the throng,  
**_

_**Yet how to pick the worthy ones  
**_

_**When they were dead and gone?  
**_

_**'Twas Gryffindor who found the way,  
**_

_**He whipped me off his head  
**_

_**The founders put some brains in me  
**_

_**So I could choose instead!  
**_

_**Now slip me snug about your ears,  
**_

_**I've never yet been wrong,  
**_

_**I'll have a look inside your mind  
**_

_**And tell you where you belong!**_

After the hat finished and took it's bow Heather and the twins stood up and began clapping. "Brovo brovo! Well done old chap!" They hollered. This earned them a dark look from McGonagall. "Will you please grow up and start acting your age!" She barked at the three. They sat down and continued to watch the sorting.

After twelve new Hufflepuffs, thirteen Ravenclaws, Ten Slitherins, and a whopping twenty Gryffindors the head master Dumbledore stood and said, "I have only two words for you. _Tuck in_." With that food magically appeared on the table.

"Food!" Heather said as she grabbed the nearest plate. "My lord, you would think that mum starved you over the summer." Fred laughed as he watched Heather attack a plate of shepherds pie. "Wellfsh ithe duh firths rimesdb ibe edend." Heather answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

After everyone had eaten their fill the food vanished. "Hey! I was in the middle of that pie!" Heather complained.

Dumbledore stood and the hall fell silent. "Now that we're all settled in and sorted I'd like to make an announcement." He said.

Fred and George rolled their eyes and said, "The forbidden forest is off limits and no fanged Frisbees. . ." "not that that's ever stopped you." Angelina said with a giggle.

"This castle will not only be your home this year, but home to some very special guests as well." Dumbledore said. Whispers echoed across the hall. "What's he going on about?" Asked Ron. "Well why don't you shut up and listen." Hermione huffed.

"You see," Dumbledore continued. "Hogwarts has been chosen to host a legendary event." He paused for dramatic effect. "This year, Hogwarts will be hosting the Tri-Wizard tournament. For those of who do not know, the tri-wizard tournament brings together three schools for a series of magical contests. From each school a single contestant is selected to compete." He said. Dumbledore's expression became more serious. "Now, let me be clear, if chosen you stand alone. And trust me when I say these contest are not for the faint hearted"

The room exploded with excited chatter. "NO WAY!" Fred and George exclaimed. Heather could practically see the wheels working in their heads, they were going to enter.

"Your attention please!" Dumbledore yelled over the din. The room steadily quieted. Once the room was quite he continued. "Eternal glory. That is what waits the student who wins the tri-wizard tournament. But in order to do this the student must survive three tasks, three extremely dangerous tasks." He finished.

"Wicked." The twins said together.

Dumbledore opened his mouth to continue his speech when there was a thunderous crash. The enchantment on the ceiling broke and it began to rain heavily on the students. A strange man steps out of the shadows and pointed his wand skyward and fired a spell. The rain stopped instantly.

"Bloody hell, it's Mad Eye Moody." Ron whispered. Hermione looked at Ron. "Alaster Moody? The auror?" She asked. "Yeah." He went on. "He's a dark wizard catcher, half of the cells in Azkaban are full because of him, but he's supposed to be mad as a hatter nowadays."

The man limped over to Dumbledore and shook his hand. He then took his seat and took a long pull from a flask that he had hidden in his cloak. "What d'ya recon he's drinking?' Seamus asked. "I dunno, but I don't think its pumpkin juice." Harry said. Heather laughed at his comment and turned her attention back to Dumbledore.

"Where was I? Oh yes, the dangerous nature of the tasks." The headmaster said.

He steeled his gaze and looked out amongst the students. "For this reason the ministry has seen fit to impose a new rule. After much deliberation the ministry has concluded that no student under the age of seventeen will be allowed to enter their name into the goblet, this decision is final."

There was an outcry against this "new rule".

"That's rubbish!" Fred cried. "Boo! Rubbish!" George echoed. "We'll be seventeen in a few weeks!"

"SILENCE!" The headmaster bellowed. The hall suddenly hushed.

"Anyone wishing to submit themselves to the tournament must merely write their name upon a piece of parchment and throw it into the goblet. Please do not do so lightly, if chosen, there is no turning back." He said in a dark tone. "Now, it has been a long night so I shall finish quickly. The forbidden forest is off limits to students and there is a list of banned objects on the door to Mr. Filch's office. I bid you good night."

The student's got up and headed for the dorms. "I can't believe that the ministry is allowing such a dangerous competition take place." Ryan muttered. "Awww, where's your sense of adventure?" Heather asked as she slung an arm around her friend. Ryan grimaced, "I believe I left it back in the forbidden forest that time when you wanted to go hunting for Javerys in third year." Heather ginned at the memory, they had scared themselves silly that night.

They looked ahead and saw the twins heads bent down close together and muttering. "Their obviously trying to figure out how to get their names put in that silly cup." Hermione said.

They reached the portrait of the fat lady and Ryan gave the password. "Jabberwocky." She said brusquely. Painting swung open to reveal the Gryffindor common room. Heather gave a lazy smile as she looked around. _'Hasn't changed a bit.' _She thought as she climbed the stairs to the dorm she shared with Ryan and Cecily. Cecily was a member of the Cedric fan club, needless to say the girls tended to bump heads.

Much to Heather's dismay Cecily was already in the room and was decorating her side of the room with Diggory memorabilia such as a piece of parchment he used and a giant poster of him playing quidditch. Yes, the girl was borderline stalker.

"That's coming down." Heather said as she pointed toward the poster. "What? No way." Cecily said. There was a brief scuffle and the end result was a shredded poster and Cecily crying over the remains of her beloved.

Heather pulled on her pajamas and crawled into bed with a satisfied smile.

'_It's so good to be home.'_ She thought sleepily to her self as she drifted off into slumber.

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**So what did you people think? I used a lot of quotes from the movie and the book to help the fic along. **

**Anyway you know what I'm going to say next so you might was well go and leave a review so I don't have to beg.**

**Later peoples.**

**-BellaCantante359**


	7. Chapter 7

**Authors note: So in this chapter I put what subjects Heather is taking. I was driving myself crazy trying to figure out days and times so I'm just going to put them on a block Schedule like they did at my old high school. If you're not familiar with it then allow me to explain.**

**Mondays and Tuesdays the students attend all classes**

**Wednesdays they attend all odd numbered classes meaning that the time is doubled Hence the "Double Potions" ECT…**

**Ditto for Thursdays but with even numbered classes**

**And on Fridays they go to all classes but the day is shortened. **

**That's is so much easier then driving my self insane trying to figure out days and times.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in Harry Potter, I also do not own rights to the Movie or the book Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. All original characters are of my own making**

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**Chapter Seven: Moody is my new Hero!**

Heather was dreaming that she was a hunter in the forbidden forest and she was trying to capture the legendary giant chocolate frog. She was ten feet from the giant coco amphibian and was just about to pounce on it when the beast turned and started hopping towards her; the beast was so massive it made the ground shake.

"Wake up!" The frog said. "Murrrrrrrr?" Was Heather's sleepy reply. "Wake up slow poke, it's the first day of classes." Ryan said matter of factly as she jumped on the bed. Heather groaned inwardly. If Ryan had let her sleep a few more minuets she would be munching on the biggest piece of chocolate ever known to man.

"Goway." Heather mumbled as she turned over and snuggled back under the covers, if she went back to sleep she might be able to finish her dream.

Ryan rolled her eyes and ripped the blanket off of the bed. "Ahhhhh! Give that back woman, its bloody freezing in here!" Heather screeched. Ryan jumped on the bed and began to tickle Heather.

"Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!! No fair you witch! Gerroff me! Lemme lone!!" Heather laughed uncontrollably. "Good, now you're up, now let's hurry so we can go and get our timetables." Ryan said.

Heather grudgingly got up. "You should have been a bloody Ravenclaw the way you talk." She muttered. "Well I'm not so get your arse up." "Do I have to go? All the teachers are going to talk about are the N.E. and how if we fail we are going to bums for the rest of our lives." Heather grumbled.

"Yes, now let's go." She said leaving Heather alone to dress. She got ready and sleepily made her way to the great hall. "Morning all." She said as she slid into a seat and grabbed the nearest plate of whatever was in front of her.

"Why good morning sunshine, so nice of you to grace us with your presence this wonderful morning." Fred said mockingly. Heather gave him the best glare she could at such a horrible hour and began to eat.

McGonagall walked over and handed them each a piece of parchment. Heather took her's and reluctantly looked at it.

1. Advanced Charms: H/R/G/S

2. Advanced Potions: H/R/G/S

**Break**

3. Advanced Transfiguration: H/R/G/S

4. Divination year seven: H/G

**Lunch**

5. Free Period

6. Ancient Runes: G/R

7. Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts: H/R/G/S

**Dinner**

8. Advanced Astronomy: H/R/G/S (Midnight)

**(If you want to know about what days the students attend which class then read the Authors note if you haven't already, sorry for the interruption.)**

She groaned into her coffee cup after reading her schedule. She had almost every freaking class with Hufflepuff. She remembered that she and Diggory were taking the same advanced courses. Ryan took the parchment from Heather's hand and compared it with her own.

"It's not so bad, we have charms and transfiguration together." Heather wasn't listening, she was busy banging her head on the table cursing herself for being such a smarty pants.

"Why aren't you taking Potions and DADA with me?" Heather asked, she needed an alli. "Because I suck at DADA and Snape scares me senseless." Ryan answered simply. "Never stopped you before, what happened to that over achiever I know and love?" Heather inquired. Ryan chose to ignore her and started reading her Arithmacy book. They finished breakfast and laughed as the twins bewitched the beacon to chase a first year Slytherin. The bell rang signaling the end of breakfast.

Heather sighed and got up, her first class was charms. That was her favorite class. She held out her arm to Ryan. "Shall we?" She asked with a grin. "Shall we what?" Ryan asked. "We have to go and find the wonderful wizard of Oz!" Heather answered as she linked arms with Ryan. They took off skipping to class singing "We're off to see the wizard." With Heather breaking off and singing in harmony.

They got to class early and stood by the wall waiting for Flitwick to assign the seating. Professor Flitwick usually sat the students by their last name and separated them by sex. So it was girls with the names of A-G in the first row and boys with the names A-G in the second row. So Heather and Ryan would sit near each other no matter what. The class filled up quickly, and much to Heather's dismay, Cedric walked in.

He smiled at Heather. "Good morning." Was all he said before returning to the conversation he was having with his friend Leon Dazin. _'Uh-oh. . .' _Heather thought. She did a mental check list of the students in the room. There were two new faces that she wasn't familiar with, but if her calculations were correct then Diggory would be sitting directly behind her.

'_Oh please let the new kids have a last name like Devonslavic or something like that.' _She thought franticly.

'_**Devonslavic? That's what you came up with?'**_

'_Like you have something better?'_

'_**No, because its useless panicking, you know he's going to end up behind you.'**_

'_Don't you have a blender to go play in or something?'_

Sure enough Cedric was seated right behind Heather. Ryan kept smirking at her and nudging her with her shoe, she stopped when Heather kicked her sharply in the shins under the table. Heather soon got bored of listening to the professor go on about N.E.W.T. scores and what would be expected, she decided to slump down and zone out for the rest of the period.

Fortunately the class ended and the students were off to their next class. "Well, I fear this is where we part ways my good friend." Ryan said dramatically. Heather mock glared at her for a moment before the girls started to laugh. They parted ways and walked to class. Cedric was a few paces ahead of Heather, he said good bye to a friend when he spotted her.

"Are you following me Miss Foxx?" He friendlily asked. "Oh yes. You see I became on you your fan girls over night and I just had to know, boxers or briefs?" She retorted. He laughed and grabbed her schedule. "Hey!" She protested as she tried to grab her timetable back. He easily kept it out of her reach while he read it. "It looks like we have the same classes this year." He commented.

"Yeah, no shit, it says that you have all the same classes with me on yours too dumb butt." She said as she snatched her agenda back. He looked at her for a moment slightly shocked that she had cursed, but then he threw his head back and laughed full heartedly as they took off toward the dungeons.

The day was relatively dull, all the professors did was talk about what was to be expected over the course of the school year and N.E.W.T. scores. Sadly she was either next to Diggory or very near him in all of her classes; she was convinced that Snape had paired them together for the rest of the year just to torment her. He must have still been sore about that time when her cauldron accidentally blew up in his face and sent him to Saint Mungo's in first year.

Ancient Runes was the only "Diggory free" Class she had. She sighed with relief when she got out of Ancient Runes, thanking her lucky stars that Professor Helsing didn't assign any homework for the night. She only had to get through DADA, then it was dinner time. She was starved.

She walked to her class and felt a surge of excitement. The school had been through all kinds of Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers over the years. Heather laughed a little when she remembered how they had gone through four professors in her second year. But this was different. Moody wasn't like all of the others. Sure Lupin was a great teacher, but Moody has seen it. He really knows what he's talking about. He did this for a living, fight against the dark arts.

She walked in and looked for an available seat. To her horror she found that there were only two seats open, one next to Rodger in the front row, and the other on the left of Cedric in the third row.

'_Merlin on a bike! Why me?'_

'_**Well, you know which one you have to take right? If you sit next to Roger then you're either going to end up molested in class or expelled because you're going to **__**Avada Kedavra him because he tried to molest you in class.'**_

'_Urgh. . .'_

'_**Oh grow up and take your seat.'**_

'_Right, go with the lesser of the two evils.'_

'_**. . . . That's not what I meant.'**_

Heather pulled her messenger bag higher on her left shoulder and walked further into the class room. Cedric looked to his left to see who his partner would be for the rest of the year. He grinned when he saw her. "Well look who it is, maybe you did become a fan girl over night and you are starting to stalk me." He said with amusement. She rolled her eyes. "Don't flatter yourself golden boy."

The room fell silent when the professor walked in. He walked to the front of the room and took role. Once the last "here" was called he wrote his name on the board before he addressed the class.

"Alaster Moody, Professor to you. Ministry malcontent. And your new defense against the dark arts teacher. I am only here for the year because Dumbledore asked me to, after that I go back into retirement." He said. "I've received a letter from your previous instructor Professor Lupin. He seemed to have covered all of the bases for you, but you are behind on curses and counter curses."

He looked around the room and said. "This is an advanced course, the best of the best in the school are sitting right here in this room. Every single one you received an O on your last exams to enter this class." Smug smiles played across a few of the students in the front row. "Now, although that is a mighty achievement it won't to _squat_ to save you in a life or death situation." The smiles quickly vanished. Heather smirked, she liked this man already.

"So, let's get started then. Curses come in many shapes and forms. Now according to the ministry I supposed to teach you about counter curses and the theory, I however, believe in a more practical approach. Now, who can tell me how many unforgivable curses there are?" He asked.

A Ravenclaw girl in the back put her hand in the air. "Yes Miss Charis?" "There are exactly three unforgivable curses sir." She answered.

"Correct. Now, why is it that they are unforgivable? Mr. James?" A Slytherin boy scowled and answered the question. "Because if the curse is used then the witch or wizard that performed the curse will automatically go to Azkaban."

"Yes. Now, who can name one of the curses? MR. ASHCROFT! PUT THAT PAPER AIRPLANE DOWN OR YOU'LL BE SPENDING THE REST OF THE NIGHT IN DETENTION WITH ME!" He barked. Michael Ashcroft quickly lowered his arm and the airplane he was planning on throwing at Marcus Brown.

'_Wow! How the hell did he do that!! He was turned away from him!'_

'_**It must have something to do with that glass eye.'**_

'_Wicked, he can see through the back of his head with that thing! . . . . Wait a sec? If it can see through his head can it see through clothes?'_

Heather's eyes widened in terror as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, Cedric saw this out of the corner of his eye and snorted. He had obviously gotten what she was thinking, or was thinking something along the same lines. "What may I ask is so funny Mr. Diggory?" The professor asked. Cedric quickly turned the laughter into a cough. "Nothing sir." He said even though his eyes danced with merriment. Heather glared and kicked him under the table.

"Now, the first curse is called the Imperius Curse." He limped over to his desk where he pulled a sheet off of a jar. Inside the jar there were several black spiders. He pulled one out and enlarged it.

"_Imperio!"_ The spider began to tap dance across his palm. It then cartwheeled off his hand and started doing push ups on the desk. A few in the class were laughing. "You think that's funny do you?" The professor asked. "What should I have her do next? Jump out the window? Drown herself?" He asked as he made the poor thing dangle it's self over a bucket of water.

The few that were laughing quieted. "Total control. Thousands of witches and wizards have claimed that there were under the influence of this curse to do you-know-whose bidding. But here's the thing, how is one to sort out the liars?" He paused to let his words sink in.

"The Imperious Curse can be fought and I will be teaching you how. Not everyone can accomplish this, it takes a great amount of will power and character to fight it so it's best if you try and avoid being hit with it. CONSTANT VILIGANCE!" He shouted. Everyone jumped.

He threw the spider back in the jar and pulled out another one. Heather stiffened, she knew what was coming next, and she didn't want to see it. Cedric felt her go ridged beside him. He cast her a sidelong glance.

"You! Miss Foxx is it? Can you tell me what the next curse is called?" Heather fought the lump in her throat and whispered the name of the curse. "What was that? I didn't hear you." Professor Moody said. "She said the Curciatis Curse." Cedric responded. The professor frowned at Cedric for speaking out of turn. He raised the spider so the class could see. _'Crucio!" _He whispered.

The spider began to writhe in pain. Its legs were flailing in the air as it rolled back and forth. Heather looked away, knowing that if the spider had had any kind of voice at all it would be shrieking for mercy. Moody released the spider from the curse.

"Pain." He said quietly.

The class was completely still. "The last one?" He asked. "Avada Kedavra." Someone whispered from the back. "Yes." The professor said. "The killing curse." He put the tired spider back in the jar and drew another one. _"Avada Kedavra!" _A blinding green light flew from his wand tip. The spider stiffened momentarily, then stilled. "The last of the unforgivable curses. Only one person has been known to survive it." He finished.

He didn't have to say it, everyone was thinking it. _Harry Potter._

"These curses take a vast amount of power behind them, you could try the killing curse on me and I wouldn't get so much as a nosebleed." He said. "There are no counter curses. Why am I bothering to show you, you think? I'm showing you because you have got to know what is out there and how to appreciate what the worst is."

The rest of the period was used to take notes about the unforgivable curses. The bell rang and they were dismissed to dinner. Heather quickly gathered her things and went to exit the class. "Ms. Foxx, if I could have a word?" The professor asked.

She stopped in her tracks. _'Shit.'_ She thought. She'd seen this one coming.

"Taciturn." Was her reply before she continued to walk out of the classroom.

The professor was shocked at her boldness and defiance. Foxx, he'd heard about that one. One of the brightest witches in her year, she'd scored off the charts, but she was sassy as hell and had a knack for mischief. He smiled to himself; he was going to have to keep an eye on this one.

Heather walked down the hall seething. She's reacted, she's known damn well that she would have to see the curses this year.

'_**It's a bit early in the year to be getting cheeky don't you think.' **_The second voice asked.

'_Oh like you wanted to deal with that?'_

She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard someone calling her name.

"Foxx! Hey Foxx! Wait up!" It was Cedric. He ran to her. "Are you okay? That was a rough class."

"I'm fine!" She snapped. She's just escaped an interrogation from Professor Moody which probably landed her on his list, she wasn't up for another. "I'm sorry, I'm just starved, I just want to get to dinner, I could eat a hippogriph." She joked. She really wasn't sure why she was apologizing to him, it must have been the look in is eyes, concerned and sad, but not pity. Then she really looked in his eyes.

'_Wow, his eyes. . . . It's like the sky when there's a storm coming. . .'_

She was suddenly snapped back to reality.

'_Oi! What the hell! This is Diggory here.'_

She looked away and started walking to the great hall. Cedric fell in step with her. They were just outside the doors to the great hall when they heard Malfoy reading an article from the daily Prophet. It was about the attack at the world cup and it contained several barbs aimed at Mr. Weasley. Draco laughed after he had finished reading. There were several insults passed back and forth. Harry had made a spectacular comeback about Draco's mother and turned to leave when Malfoy pointed his wand at Harry and fired a curse.

Heather had her wand out to hex the bastard into oblivion.

"OH NO YOU DON'T LADDIE!" Suddenly there was a pure white ferret in Draco's place. Heather spun around to see Professor Moody pointing his wand at the small rodent. "Oh my God, is that. . . ?" Heather asked barely able to keep the glee from her voice. Cedric only nodded having his own problems keeping his own laughter under control.

Moody walked over to Harry to see if he was okay. He was talking when he shouted, "LEAVE IT!" Heather turned her attention back to the Malfoy ferret. One of Malfoy's goonies was trying to pick the animal up. It gave an alarmed squeal and took off bounding down the hall. "I don't think so." Said Moody. He pointed his wand at the ferret and summoned it back over. "Only cowards attack an opponent when their back is turned." He said as he waved the rodent around in the air.

He began to bounce the ferret on the floor. "Never- Do- That- Again!" He said as he continued to bounce Malfoy higher yet.

"Okay, it's official." Heather said. "Professor Moody is my new hero!" She said between fits of laughter.

"Professor Moody!" McGonagall came striding forward.

"Hello Minerva." Moody said as he continued to bounce the ferret. "What in Merlin's name are you _doing_?" She asked bewildered.

"Teaching." Was Moody's reply. "Teach- Moody, _is that a student!?_" She shrieked. "Yep." Moody said as he began to make figure eights with the small animal.

"We _never_ use transfiguration as a punishment, surely Dumbledore told you that." McGonagall said as she changed Draco back. "He might have mentioned it, yeah." Said Moody.

McGonagall lit into Moody about how to _properly _punish an offender. Moody took Draco by the arm and led him to Sanpe's office. Hermione began to say something when Ron shushed her. "Don't talk to me." He said with his eyes closed. "Why on earth not?" She huffed. "Because, I want to fix that in my memory forever, Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret."

The group roared with laughter as they went to dinner.

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**LOL, I had fun writing that one. I love the ferret scene. Yes the fic does contain spoilers and direct quotes, but I do properly disclaim everything. Besides, what kind of writer would I be if I didn't mention Malfoy turning into a ferret?**

**Go and review and I'll have the next chapter out to you as fast as I can.**

**Peace out.**

**-BellaCantante359**


	8. Chapter 8

**Authors note: I have no excuse.**

**I am so very sorry. I will try and be better about updating.**

**Disclaimer: me no own so you no sue, OC's I make so you no steal savvy? **

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**Chapter eight: I hope I wore the sensible knickers. . . **

The rest of the week went by relatively painlessly for Heather. She liked all her classes, and Moody seemed to have taken a shining to her. She wasn't quite sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing yet.

It wasn't long before all of the students began to fall into a morning routine; and Ryan and Heather were no expception. Every morning Ryan would yank Heather out of bed, and Heather would loudly protest until Ryan threatened to tickle her. Heather liked all of her classes, even potions to some extent, but the one class that was really starting to bug her was Astronomy.

It was the last class of the week and the only class on Friday that _wasn't_ shortened. The class was held at midnight when the stars were all directly overhead. Waking up for this class was similar to the girls morning ritual, in which Ryan would once again have to yank Heather out of bed, only this time threatening to send Diggory a love letter from Heather.

"Damn you witch!" Heather cursed as she crawled out of bed. "Why the hell can't they have this class at a normal hour?" She grumped as she sleepily made her way down the dormitory steps.

"Because stupid, if you had it in the middle of the day you wouldn't be able to see Uranus." Fred joked. This earned him a dark look from Heather along with a smack upside the head. She grabbed her books with a yawn before turning to look at the clock; maybe she could swing by the kitchen for a snack before class.

"Holy crap is that the time?!" Heather yelled, it was ten after, she was most defiantly late. "Well, you might have been on time if you hadn't tried to bite me when I took you pillow away." Ryan pointed out, but Heather was already out the door and sprinting down the hall.

'_Shit shit shit shit shit!' _She thought as she made a sharp turn at the suit of Armor. Professor Sinistra was _especially_ picky about tardies.

'_And I was doing so well, I'd managed to go an entire week without landing a detention!'_

'_**Well we wouldn't have this problem is SOMEBODY had gotten up on time.'**_

'_I'm a bloody student! I need my sleep, especially with all of the "Welcome back homework" the teachers so lovingly assigned!" _She argued back.

'_**Oh grow up, you shouldn't have hexed Ryan for waking you up.'**_

'_I didn't hex, her, I bit her.' _Heather thought smugly.

'_**. . . . God you give me a headache.'**_

'_Can conscious's get headaches?' _

'_**With you, anything's possible.' **_The second voice said before fading out.

Heather reached the top of the astronomy tour and peeked through the door.

The professor had already taken role and was lecturing on Jupiter. She had cast a spell so there was a 3-D model floating in front of her.

Heather opened the door as quietly as possible. As few people noticed her open the door. They smirked at her as they pretended to pay attention to the professor. Every student in her class knew the drill. No one would rat you out if you were late and snuck in, just as long as you returned the favor one day.

She got the door open wide enough for her to crawl through. Although professor Sinistra was a very bright woman, she was also extremely forgetful and not very observant. It wasn't unusual if she forgot to mark someone present. All Heather would have to do is make it to her stool and ask a question to bring attention to the fact that she was in class.

Unfortunately for Heather, her seat was located the farthest from the door. Heather cursed under her breath as she inched herself across the floor. She hoped that she had remembered to wear sensible knickers that morning, lord knew that everyone who looked would be able to see up her skirt.

She was a few feet from her stool when she felt it. She looked back to find that he skirt had snagged on one of the bloody telescopes! "What the hell are you doing?" The owner of the offensive object asked with a laugh. Heather closed her eyes and groaned. Cedric.

"I'm knitting your mum a sweater." She retorted. "Now help me out of this thing before I get caught." By now she had the entire class's attention. Cedric untangled her skirt and helped her up. She was about to sit down when she tripped over her shoe lace. She fell crashing to the floor bringing down several telescopes with her.

"What in the world!" The professor shrieked as she accidentally caused one of Jupiter's moons to go rocketing off to collide with Mars. The end result was a giant explosion.

"What on earth was that noise!?" She demanded. She scanned the room and found Heather on the floor in a tangle of equipment. She rolled her eyes. " Miss Foxx. . . I'm not surprised. That's one Detention for being tardy and disrupting my class, and five points from Gryffindor for damaging school property." She said through her teeth.

"But professor! I would have snuck in just fine if the bloody telescopes weren't placed so close together." She protested. The class laughed as she attempted to remove herself from the metallic mess. "Get up and get to that telescope!" Sinistra barked.

"Crazy old bat." She muttered as she disentangled herself. The professor went back to talking. Heather glared at Cedric who was eyeing her mischievously. "Shut up." She said as she straitened the telescope out. "What?" He said with farce innocence.

She huffed and set up her station. "What are we supposed to be doing?" She asked. He grinned devilishly at her. "Well, if you had been on time you would already know." She rolled her eyes.

"We're taking notation on some of the lesser known constellations and mapping them out." He explained. "Righto." She said as she tried to focus her instrument. "Stupid thing." She muttered, she couldn't get the thing to focus on the constellation she wanted for love or money.

"Here." Cedric said. She felt him come up behind her and place his chin on her shoulder to reach out and adjust the knob. "Is that better?" He asked. "Hummmrrrr. . . Umm, kinda." She responded. He brain had stopped working when her back came into contact with his chest. "How about now?" He asked, his breath ticked in her ear sending chills down her spine, she quickly shook them away. "Umm, yeah, that's great. Thanks." She said.

"Good. Your welcome." He said with a smile. He was completely oblivious as the effects he had just had on her. They worked silently for the rest of the night.

"All right you lot, that's enough for tonight, hand your parchment in to me before you leave." The professor said. Heather sleepily gathered her things and walked to the front.

"Here you go Pr—pro-professor." She said as she stifled a yawn. Professor Sinistra frowned at her. "Don't think that I haven't forgotten about your detention Miss Foxx, I think tomorrow night at eight in the trophy room will be fine."

"What! But tomorrow's Saturday!" Heather protested, suddenly wide awake. "Well then, next time you should have more incentive to get yourself to my class on time." She said.

Heather left the tower muttering less then kind things about a certain professor. "So what day's your detention?" Cedric asked amusedly as he fell into step with her. "Tomorrow night at eight in the trophy room! It's a Saturday for Merlin's sake!" She fumed. Cedric stopped and started to laugh.

"What on earth is so funny?" She demanded. Once he could breath again he straitened up. "I have Heads duties in the trophy room tomorrow night." He said with a grin. "Apparently I'm supposed to keep an eye on some delinquents in detention." He said as his eyes twinkled with delight. Heather's face instantly fell. This only caused him to laugh harder.

"Perfect! Just bloody perfect! I get to spend my first night off with you polishing Dolbert the Dutiful's plaque all night!" She stormed off to the common room. She was surprised to find Cedric still following her. "Why are you following me? Don't you have some rabbits to stalk?" She asked. He looked at her as if she had sprouted a second head. "Rabbits?" He asked. She only raised her eyebrow in challenge.

"Um, no. I leave the bunny stalking for Mondays. My common room is just past yours." He answered. She smacked her forehead, she forgot that he was head boy and would be staying in the heads dorms. He once again fell into step with her. The walked silently until they heard it, it was a soft and faint mewing sound.

"What was that?" He asked. "I dunno." They looked around to find the source of the sound when they came across a small litter of kittens. "OH! They're so cute!" Heather said as she darted forward to get a better look.

"One of the student's cats must have had a litter. Sometimes students will just leave the kittens in the hall hoping something will be done with them. I'll take them to McGonagall." He conjured a box and placed the kittens inside. "Wait!" Heather said. "What's going to happen to them?" She asked.

"Sometimes they go to Hogsmead to be sold as pets and sometimes they're used during classes like transfiguration." After seeing the horrified look on Heather's face he quickly added. "It doesn't hurt them; they're all changed back at the end of class.

She picked one of the kittens up and looked at it. It was a small male; he had short grey fur with tiger stripes and bright green eyes. He was the smallest of the lot. It mewed at her in question. She cuddled him to her breast. "Can I keep this one?" She asked. "I've always wanted a pet, but I could never have one because of dad." She said. The kitten purred in her arms and closed its eyes in content.

He smiled at the picture before him. She was so soft and sweet with the kitten, holding it close to keep it warm. "Sure." He said.

They walked silently to the Gryffindor common room. She gave the pass word and climbed in holding the kitten close. The door was about to wing shut when he got a wicked idea. "I'll see you tomorrow night at eight." He said with a wink as the painting swung shut.

"Arrrgh!" was the reply he heard as he made his way back to his dorms laughing.

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**Please Review**

**That is all.**

**-BellaCantante359**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: me no own so you no sue, OC's I make so you no steal savvy?**

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**Chapter Nine: Dreams, detention, and a date?**

Two people stood in the moon light, standing across from the lake. They were speaking in hurried tones. She was worried, he was scared. He leaned down and placed a small kiss on her forehead. Heather could almost see their faces when she felt herself being pulled back to consciousness.

'_No! I want to see who they are!'_

She fought to say asleep, but with the sunlight shining on her face it was impossible to stay asleep any longer. She sat up in bed. _'Who were they?' _She thought to herself as she felt the dream slip away as she became more alert.

She got up and headed for the bathroom. _'I would say that rates an 8.5 on the weird dream scale.'_ Heather thoguht to herself as she swung her legs out of bed and got up/

'**_Well, it looks as if you're finally starting to get with the program.' _**The 'voice' Said.

'_Urgh, no riddles today, its Saturday for crying out loud...' _Heather snapped back as she shuffeld toward the shower. Nothing started the weekend like a long hot shower... Heather Turned the wather on and was halfway undressed before comprehension dawned on her.

"Oh God, its Saturday!" Heather cried. She could faintly hear the 'voice' laughing at her as it faded out. She showered and went down to the common room where she sulked around the for a bit, still puzzling over the dream she's had.

She couldn't shake the weird feeling she had. She heaved a sigh and got up, she wasn't doing anything productive by being a moody teenager, instead she spent her day lazing about the castle, going through all of the secret passages and hunting for new ones. Some days she felt as if she knew the castle like the back of her hand, then something new and interesting would appear.

Before she knew it, it was a quarter till eight. She toyed with the idea of just playing hookie wondering if Diggory would turn her in or not. Sadly Hermione said that she would walk with her since it was on the way to the library. They reached the trophy room at seven fifty-eight. "Do I have to go Herms?" She asked. "I know, I'll say that I ran into peeves on my way here and he locked me in a closet!"

Hermione gave her a stern look. "That would be lying; besides, you tried it with Filch already." She said. Heather grinned. "Yeah, but he bought it." Hermione rolled her eyes and walked down the hall to the library. "Take me with you!" Heather shouted. "No." Was the reply she received. "Well then." Heather said with a smirk. "I just might have to mention to Ron that you fancy him."

Hermione stopped in her tacks and wheeled around, her mouth agape. "You wouldn't dare. . ." She stammered. Heather looked at her nails, and then at Hermione. "Nah, I just wanted to see the look on your face, ta!" She said as she walked into the trophy room.

There were four other students there. One Slytherin boy, and three Ravenclaws. She walked in and sat in the corner. _'Hey, Diggory's not here, yet, I don't have instructions.' _She thought to herself.

'_**You don't need instructions; you have to polish the trophies.'**_

'_Oh do shut up, besides, he's here.'_

Sure enough Cedric walked in. He surveyed the room, his eyes landed on Heather. He winked. _'Who the hell said he could do that!?'_ She thought angrily.

"All right, you know why you're all here and what you have to do. Polish the trophies, no magic." He said as he collected the wands from the students. "No magic!?" Exclaimed the three first year Ravenclaws.

Heather smirked. _'Ahhh, to be a first former, so young and ignorant to the tortures of detention.'_ She grabbed an old rag out of the bucket and went to work in the sections she had been assigned.

'_Well, what do you know, I am polishing Dolbale the Dutiful's plaque.' _She turned and looked at Cedric. He gave her a wicked smile and went back to supervising the others.

She had been working for about an hour. The fumes from the polish were starting to make her dizzy. _'God, can't they even cut us a break, it's only the first week back.'_ She mentally grumbled. She was on the Millionth plaque when there was a loud bang herd form the hallway.

"Oh no, not again." Cedric said. "Some third years have been setting off dung bombs in front of the library for days now." He took off to try and catch the perpetrators.

Heather looked around. _'Now let me think, when is an opportunity like this going to come about again?' _She asked herself.

She threw her rag down and went for the door. "Where do you think your going?" The young Slytherin asked. "Shut up and get back to work." She snapped. The boy scowled at her, but went back to work. She walked out side and looked both ways down the hall. No sign of Diggory.

She did a victory dance and was heading back to the common room when she realized that golden boy still had her wand. She turned around to find herself face to face with Cedric. "That's quite an interesting jig you've come up with." He laughed as he twirled her wand around his long fingers.

"Oh damn." She cursed. She's been caught which was probably going to lead to anther detention. "I don't s'pose you'd let me off the hook would you?" She asked timidly.

He smirked at her. "I don't know, that would be breaking the rules now wouldn't it, I am head boy and rule breaking is generally frowned upon." He said with a smile. "What am I going to get in return?" He asked with an impish grin.

She sighed exasperatedly. "What do you want, I'm so sick of polishing those stupid medals, I think I might faint because of all the fumes." She said. "One favor." He answered. She looked at him skeptically. "Er, I'm. . . Not going to have to give you a lap dance or anything like that am I?" She asked.

His eyes widened before he began to laugh. "No, nothing like that I assure you." He said. "Unless you're up for it that is." He added with a devilish smirk. "Pervert!" She shrieked and he laughed.

"Fine, it's a deal. What do you want?" She asked. "Come to Hogsmead with me next Saturday, there's a trip scheduled for after the transfer students arrive."

'_Hmmmm, an afternoon with Diggory, or spend the rest of the night polishing old pieces of metal. . . What ever is a girl to do?'_

'_**What you should do is go back to detention.'**_ The voice muttered.

"Fine."

"Cool, meet me at nine in front of the great hall" He said as he handed her her wand back. She went to tug it free when he looked her in the eyes. "Saturday, don't forget." He said. "Okay." She pulled her wand free and went back to the common room.

She walked in and got into bed. _'I think I may have just done something stupid.'_ She thought.

'_**Well, it certainly wouldn't be a first time. . . .'**_

**_TBC..._**

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**I got my first flames! Whoo-hoo!! I've actually been waiting for these… I'm really surprised that it's taken eight chapters get my first one. LOL. Thank you flamers. However, you guys broke a few rules for flaming a story. :(**

**Flame if you want, I really don't care. Just be sure to follow these simple rules:**

**1.) **To LMAO and Future Flamers: If you flame and want to offer criticism then do it under a real account name, not some anonymous review, it just makes you look stupid.

**2.) **To Future Flamers: If you are going to flame, then do it with dignity and offer constructive criticism. Please do not say the story is stupid without saying why. Not only does that make you look stupid it makes you sound like a whiney fourth grader. Don't b*tch about the Sue, tell me why the writing is bad.

**3.)** Also, I am fully aware that the main character is a Mary Sue as I had stated in chapter one; Therefore I do not need a reminder.

In response to the Pie Phantom: you're right, I was false in saying everyone loves a Mary Sue and I hereby retract that statement. I personally, happen to find Mary Sue hilarious. I don't take any of this seriously. My friends and I have a bet going to see who could come up with the best Mary Sue and finish the story since there are a million and one Mary Sue stories left to rot. Thus, Heather Foxx was born…. Err, written into existence. (But kudos on the Mary Sue sex dream reference, I love that one!).

And as a side note, I did not know that Robert what'shisface was going to be playing Edward. That was an added bonus. I started writing this before _Twilight_ was going to be made into a movie (And a bad one at that). You can't imagine my shame. However as an author I will solider on. I will also openly admit that the main character is an insert from real life; however it is not me, Ryan. (Le gasp! A self insert as a lesser character!?!?!?). The real insert for Heather Foxx is my BFF…. Heather! 3

**Now, in the words of the Human Torch…**

**Flame on!**

**Just be sure you follow the rules M'kay?**

**Oh, and to the rest my readers,**

**Please review!**

**Kay thanks. :]**

**-BellaCantante359**


	10. Chapter 10

**Authors note: Another day another chapter. . . **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to J.K. Rowling's characters from Harry Potter. All OC's are of my own design.**

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**Chapter 10: Please don't make me look like a hooker. . .**

It was the second week of school and Heather was already buried under a pile of homework. "Sweet jumping camels, do they have to give us so much?" Heather asked in bewilderment as she copied down the assignment that McGonagall had assigned.

McGonagall arched an eyebrow. "Well Ms. Foxx, what kind of a future do you think you're going to have if you don't do well on the N.E.W.T.'s?" she asked. Heather held her head up high. "I'm going to be a professional bum!" she declared.

Professor McGonagall rolled her eyes heavenward. "Class dismissed." she sighed. Students were packing up their matericals when the professor called, "Ms. Foxx, wait just a moment please."

'_Crap.'_

Heather walked up to McGonagall's desk, wracking her brain trying to think of what she might have done to land her a lecture. The professor leveled the girl a stern look and said, "Lee Jordan is not going to be commentating for the first quidditch match this term, would you consider filling the position?"

Heather looked as if Christmas had come early. "Sure thing!" She said enthusicastically. She took her instructions from McGonagall about getting the names of the team members and a piece of parchment on proper comentation techniques.

McGonagall shook her head as she watched the girl bound out of the room. That Foxx girl, she was truly a magnificently gifted student. Never in all her life had she seen a student with more potential. If only she would take things more seriously like Miss Granger did. But no, she supposed it wouldn't make her the same. "A puzzle that one is." She commented to herself as she began to set up for her next class.

Heather sat down at the Gryffindor table and ladled herself a large bowl of potato soup.

"Hello poppits, what is new in the world of the Weasley's?" She asked the twins. They looked up and hid the piece of parchment that they were bent over. "Nothing." They chimed.

"Oh come off it, it's never NOTHING with you two, _Accio parchment._" They made a desperate grab for the paper, but it sailed away and into Heather's waiting hands. "Well now, this is curious." she said looking over the list of ingredients. "You're planning on making an aging potion." The twins glared at her. She merely grinned back. "Now what would happen if this particular bit of information got into the wrong hands, say your mum's?" she asked devilishly.

Their eyes becameas wide as saucers. Heather laughed roguishly. The twins didn't really have much respect for anything, but Molly scared the wits out of them. "NO!" they screamed. "We'll do anything!" Fred said. "Yes, name it and it's yours!" George pleaded.

Heather laughed and put a finger to her lips. "Now, let me think. . . ." she said thoughtfully. "I want you to go over to professor Snape, and confess your undying love for him!" she said with glee.

Watching their faces pale was priceless. Let's just call this pay back for that time when you make me follow McGonagall around and copy everything she did back in second year." She grinned. "I had to put up with three weeks of detention for that one."

They looked at her and grinned at each other. "Fine." they said as they got up and walked to the staff table. Heather watched on in delight as they professed their undying love for the greasy haired man using wild hand movements and words such as "Snapykinns" And "Make sweet love till sunrise."

The hall was alight with laughter. Heather was clutching her sides as if she would burst because she was laughing so much.

After they had been scolded and given a detention they walked back smiling. Heather wordlessly handed the parchment back once she could breath properly.

"Was our performance satisfactory?" George asked. Once Heather had regained composure she sat up strait. "Yes, very much so."

The Head master stood and said, "Well, that was interesting to say the least." with a smile. "I have and announcement to make." He said when the hall had hushed. "All classes on Friday are to be canceled for the day." The hall cheered in delight. "Instead you are to make yourselves presentable for the arrival of our guest. You are to wait in front of the castle at three o'clock. That is all." he said with a smile as he served himself a second helping of tuna salad.

"What! We have to wait outside!" Heather exclaimed. "It's bloody freezing outside!" she protested. McGonagall gave her a look that said if she continued then she would most defiantly be in detention that evening.

Thursday came and went quickly, all anyone could talk about was the transfer students. Heather grudgingly got up and grabbed her cloak. "Mow?" Her kitten asked. "I don't wanna go either." she said to the small feline before Ryan burst into the room.

"We're going to be late, let's go!" said Ryan, grabbing her cloak. "But the kitty doesn't want me to go." Heather said. "It's too early in the bonding stage; I need to keep him close to me." she complaned.

"Well then take the bloody cat with you, we haven't got all day." Ryan huffed. Heather looked at the kitten and shrugged. _'Why not? It's not like there's anything better to do out there.' _She picked up the kitten and put it in her cloak pocket.

They made their way to the front of the school, Heather cursing the entire way. "It's bloody freezing out here! We're going to be waiting forever like ice cubes." She fumed. Ryan just nodded her head dragged Heather the rest of the way.

They had been waiting for twenty minuets and nothing had happened. "Cor, it's bloody cold out here." Fred complained. Heather nodded and pulled the hood of her cloak up.

"Ms. Foxx, put your hood down this instant. You don't want to greet our guest looking like a dementor do you?" McGonagall barked.

"I'd meet them as bloody Santa Clause if it meant I would be wormer." She muttered as she pulled her hood down.

"Now now, you really shouldn't sass the teachers." Cedric said, walking over to join them.

'_Perfect, I'm going to be a frozen statue next to Diggory for the rest of my life. . .' _

Heather huffed and tried to ignore him. Her pocket chose that second to mew. Cedric looked at her curiously. "Is that. . . ?" He started to ask. Heather pulled the small tabby out of her pocket.

"I WAS BLOODY KIDDING ABOUT BRINGING THE CAT!" Ryan shouted.

Heather grinned and held the cat up to her friends face. "Awww, how could I leave such a precious thing behind? Kiss kitty." Ryan tried to look stern, but how could she scowl at a cat? She smiled and scratched it behind the ears before turning and facing forward.

"Can I see him?" Cedric asked. Heather reluctantly handed him over. He held the kitten close to keep it warm as he stroked it's back. The cat instantly reacted to his touch, it stretched and curled up in his arms purring. "Traitor." Heather muttered.

"What's his name?" Cedric asked as he continued to caress the kitten. "Topo, it means mouse in Italian." she said as she accepted the cat back from Cedric. He smiled at it. The name surely fit, the cat was rather small with a pointed face and large ears.

"LOOK!" George said pointing to the sky. They all turned and looked up.

"It's a dragon!" A terrified Ravenclaw shrieked.

"No stupid, it's a flying house." A second year Gryffindor shouted. Indeed there was a giant house flying right for them. "No way. . ." Heather said. The house was being pulled by several palomino winged horses. It came to a halt in front of the school. The door opened and a young man hopped out. He pulled down a set of steps and a woman emerged.

"Blimey, Will you look at that!" Fred whispered. The woman was huge! Heather had only known one person as tall as that. She was dressed in satin and had opals draped about her neck and fingers.

"Ah, Dumbly-dorr, I 'ope I find you well." said the freakishly large woman as she held her hand out to the headmaster. Heather snickered behind her hand.

"Madam Maxime, Welcome to Hogwarts." He said as he kissed her hand. As they spoke Heather took an opportunity to look at the students. They were young, fresh faced and shivering, wearing nothing but blue silk robes. Heather snorted. "You'd think they would have worn something warmer, we're in Scotland for crying out loud." Cedric chuckled beside her.

She turned her attention back to "_Dumbly-dorr_" and the woman.

"Would you prefer to wait for Karkaroff or warm up a trifle before the feast?" He asked.

"HEY! How come they get to go inside and we have to wait out here in the arctic!?!" Heather complained. McGonagall shushed her and ushered the shivering students inside.

"Over there! The lake!" Lee Jordan shouted. Heather lost interest in going inside when she saw a giant mast coming out the lake. The mast quickly turned into a large ship. "Now that, is how you make an entrance." Heather said, impressed.

The students came off the ship. They looked rather burly, but upon closer inspection she saw that they were bundled up in heave winter coats and fur hats. "I see they are the more sensible lot." Heather commented.

Dumbledore and the Dumstrang headmaster embraced and spoke. "Oh my God Heather! Look!" Angelina said as she tugged on her sleeve. "It's Victor Krum!" Heather whirled to gape in the dircretion Angelina had directed and sure enough the most talented seeker Heather had ever seen was indeded standing off to the side, brooding.

The Dumstrang students filed inside first and the Hogwarts students followed. "It's about bloody time! I can't feel my toes!" Heather said with reliefe as she hurried to get inside.

She went to the dorms to drop Topo off before heading down to the fest. "Hey Heather, wait up." She automatically stopped and turned to see who wanted to walk with her.

'_I shoulda known.' _She thought

Cedric caught up with her and followed her to the great hall. "Interesting lot back there." Cedric said. "I guess so." Heather replied. She wasn't all that interested.

"Are you going to put you name in the cup?" He asked.

"Nah, I just got my freedom, I'm not about to go and do something stupid like putting my name in there just so I can get mangled." She replied.

"Why not? You're one of the most talented witches I've ever met." Cedric said in earnest. Heather felt herself blush at the complement. "Oh come off it. Are you going to enter?" She asked hoping he wouldn't notice the pink tint to her cheeks.

"Yeah, I am." He said. Heather felt a twinge of disapproval at the thought of him entering his name in the cup, but then again, what did she care? They reached the great hall and went to their respective tables. The Beauxbaton students has seated themselves at the Ravenclaw table, and the Dumstrang students were at the Slytherin table. Once everyone was properly seated Dumbledore stood to address the hall.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, ghosts – and most particularly, guests." He said with a smile. "I take great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts, I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable." One of the girls at the Ravenclaw table giggled. "The tournament will have officially opened at the end of the feast, but for now I invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home."

The feast began, there was so much food. Heather's eyes gazed over slightly, she didn't know what to try first. The twins laughed at her enthusiasm before digging in themselves. Heather found that she as particularly found of the French stew. "What on earth is this stuff called?" she asked as she served herself another helping.

"Excuse me, are you still wanting the bouillabaisse?" A feminine voice asked. It was the giggly girl.

"Huh?" Heather said intelligently. Ron turned a rather interesting color and said that she could take it. The girl grabbed the dish and walked away, sashaying her hips. "What the bloody hell did you do that for?!?" Heather yelled as she smacked Ron with a spoon. "Ouch! Bloody hell woman, it was just food!" he snapped as he rubbed his head.

"Ronnikins, you should know by know that anyone that tries to take food from Heather has a death wish." Fred said.

The food vanished and Dumbledore stood. He re-explained the rules of the tournament. "The names of the champions will be selected in three days time. To enforce the age limits an age line will around the goblet. I believe that is all, I bid you goodnight."

The masses were excused. Several students rushed forward to put their names in the cup. Heather yawned and headed up to the dormaroty not really caring about the stupid contest. "Goodnight." Cedric said, "I'll see you tomorrow." He said as she walked away. Heather's sleepy expression was replaced with a look of horror and distaste.

Ryan looked from Diggory to Heather. "What was he going on about?" she asked. Heather grimaced and told Ryan about the deal she made with Cedric as they made their way up to the dorms.

"You lucky bitch! Girls would kill to go out with him and you're making it out to be a chore!" Ryan said.

"Oh come on, it was that or spend the rest of the night polishing silverware. Although now I kind of wish I had stayed in detention. . ." She mused aloud while she pulled her pajamas on. She was going to Hogsmead with golden boy. If anyone had suggested such a thing a few months again Heather would have laughed long and hard before suggesting they have their heads examined.

"So, you're going on a date." Ryan sang.

"I am not!" Heather said indignantly. "It's black mail!"

"Uh huh, sure thing." Ryan said with a grin. Heather chucked a pillow at her and settled in for the night.

The next morning Heather woke up with a start. She'd had another one of those weird dreams. She was irritated because she couldn't remember what it was. All she could remember was it was about the couple she dreamed about the other night.

Heather closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep, but her mind was buzzing trying to recall what had happend in the dream. She sighed, she obviously wasn't going to be able to fall back asleep at this point. She rolled over and looked out the window and smiled. In her opinion it was perfect weather. The sky was overcast with a threat of rain, but the air would be crisp and the wind was gentle. She snuggled back down in her little four poster enjoying the feeling of being in her nice comfy bed when it was so cold outside. She was just getting ready to drift back into slumber when a pillow came in contact with her face. "Wake up." Ryan said.

"Do you have to be so violent in the morning? I really think we need to have your hormone levels checked." Heather said as she swung her legs over the side of the bed to get up. Ryan's eyes danced as she went through Heather's trunk. "We have to find you something to wear." She said.

"What for? It's Saturday, we could have a pajama day and loll around the common room all day." Heather suggested.

"Nope, I'm going to Hogsmead to get a few things and you have a date." Ryan said as she continued to rummage through Heather's things.

"Date? What are you- . . . NOOOOOO!!!!!" Heather cried when she realized what Ryan was talking about.

Ryan laughed wickedly and threw a lacy pair of underwear at Heather. "I'm sure he would love those." Ryan said laughing manically.

"NOOOOOO!!!" Heather repeated. She got up and tried to make a mad dash out of the room.

"_Immobilise_!" Ryan shouted as she fired the spell. Heather was frozen instantly. "Any last requests?" Ryan asked with a wicked smile as she pulled Heather back into the dorm.

"Please don't make me look like a hooker. . ." Heather begged.

"We'll see." Ryan said as she shut the door.

Twenty minuets later Heather was being escorted down to the great hall. Ryan had been merciful enough to let Heather wear her jeans, however, she did insist on the hunter green three quarter sleeved shirt with a brown hoodie. Heather had her hair pulled into her usual thick braid and she wore a pair of pearl studs in her ears.

Ryan gave Heather on final shove before she took off to go with Angelina. Heather sighed and squared her shoulders. "Let's get this over with. . ."

She walked to the front of the great hall and spotted Cedric. He was leaning casually against the wall. His hair was its normal shaggy brown, he was wearing a pair of muggle jeans and a light blue button down shirt with a denim jacket on.

'_Meow! Not bad golden boy. . . Holy chocolate frogs, I did not just "Meow" for golden boy!'_

'_**Oh but you did. . .'**_

'_No I didn't. . .'_

'_**You're a little old for that don't you think?'**_

'_. . . . .'_

Heather took a deep breath and walked over. He looked up and smiled. "Hey." He said.

"Right back attcha." Heather replied. They walked down to the village silently, Heather could feel him look over at her ever now and then.

"So. . . Where to first?" He asked. "You choose, anywhere you want to go."

"Honeyduke's." She said without missing a beat. If there was anything that would take her mind off of having to spend the day with golden boy it was chocolate. "Excellent, let's go." He said as he took her arm and lead her to the store.

Upon walking into the shop Heather was greeted with the wonderfully sweet smell of chocolate. She grinned and walked in. Cedric smiled after her. She really looked like a kid in a candy store. She went right for the chocolate frogs. She grabbed a bag and inhaled the sweet chocolaty goodness. "If there is one sign that God has given us to tell us that he still loves us it is without a doubt chocolate." Heather declared.

He laughed and continued browsing. Heather walked around until she found a promotional display, it was a new version of ice mice. They were edible, but they were like real mice, with fur and everything. They were on display in a cage, running around on little wheels and squeaking. "Ew, now that's just wrong." Heather commented as she watched, she could just imagine the little feet and tail as someone ate them. She gave an involuntary shudder.

"What's wrong? Cold?" Cedric asked as he came up behind her. "No, I was just-" She started, she was then struck with a wicked thought of brilliance.

"I dare you to eat of dozen of those!" Heather said pointing at the display. Cedric looked at what she was pointing at and paled. "You can't be serious." He said disbelievingly.

"Yep." She said as her eyes danced. "Unless your not man enough to handle it." She added.

Cedric looked from her to the mice scurrying around. "If I eat then what's in it for me? I'm not doing it for nothing." he said with a wolfish smile.

'_Dammnit! He did it again! He turned the tables on me!'_

'_**Well what do you expect? He's no fool.'**_

Heather looked back at him nervously. "What do you have in mind?" She asked cautiously.

"I dunno, I'll think of something." He grinned.

Heather looked at him warrily. "I'm afraid of what wicked thoughts are running through that head of your Diggory." She said. This game could be fun, but she wasn't quite sure what she was wagering. Finally she said. "Okay, fine. If you eat the entire thing without hurling then I owe you whatever." Cedric smirked at her. "A PG favor." She added hastily.

He laughed. "Good God woman, what kind of guy do you think I am?"

She scooped twelve of the fattest mice into a bag and went to the register to pay. The cashier looked at her oddly while she wrung up the items. "Oh it's not for me miss, they're for him." She grinned as she motioned to Cedric. The woman shook her head and handed their purchases back.

Once they got out of the shop Heather thrust the bag into Cedric's hand. "This is going to be _so_ sweet." She said.

Cedric eyed the bag of squirming mice in his hand. "Go on." Heather said. He took one of the squirming rodents out of the bag by the tail. Heather's eyes got wide. He put the thing in his mouth and chewed. It made a sickening crunch.

"Oh my god!" she said as she did the icky dance. "Ew ew ew ew ew ew ew!!!!!" She exclaimed with disgust and delight.

Cedric swallowed and made a face. "How was it?" She asked eagerly.

"Oh it was delightful, you can feel their little feet all the way down, would you care for one?" He asked with a grin as he held the wriggling bag out for her.

"No thanks, I'm good." She said.

They spent the day walking around and window shopping.

"Wait a sec." Heather said. She walked over to a window display. "What is it?" Cedric asked as he ate another mouse.

Inside the display was a necklace. It was a pink lotus flower with a pearl in the middle. Heather looked at it for a moment before leaving. "Wait, aren't you going to buy it?" Cedric asked.

"Did you happen to look at the price tag? I can't afford something like that. I just like to come and visit it once in a while." She said simply. Later in the afternoon they decided to stop for a drink at the three broom sticks.

"Two butter beers please." Cedric asked the bar maid. Heather went to pay for hers when Cedric stopped her. "I've got it since you were kind enough to pay for my little snack." Cedric said motioning to the half full bag of mice.

"Thanks." She said as she accepted the drink. They went and took a seat in the back to enjoy their drinks. Heather couldn't help but notice the looks she was getting. All of the girls in the room were glaring at her. She shifted in her seat. If looks could kill then she would have died nine times and gone strait to hell. "Something wrong?" Cedric asked.

"Huh? No, how are those mice coming?" She asked.

He held up the almost empty bag. "Delicious." He said. He held out the bag once more. "It's not too late to try one." He said.

She looked from him to the bag. "You're not going to leave me alone until I try one are you?"

He grinned and held the bag out to her. "Once you get past the tail it's not so bad." He said with a grin.

Heather grabbed one of the wriggling creatures and looked at it. I ts little nose was twitching and everything. She closed her eyes and put it in her mouth. The thing was franticly wiggling in her mouth trying to get free, she quickly bit it to stop it from moving. Minty juice filled her mouth and the mouse stilled. She quickly swallowed and gagged. Cedric was laughing the entire time.

"Oh my God that is sick!" Heather said as she wiped her tongue with a napkin.

"Well now you know what I've been dealing with all afternoon." Cedric replied once his laughter was subdued.

They left the three broom sticks and decided to head back to the castle. They were half way there when there was a giant crack as the skies opened up and rain came down.

"Come on!" Cedric said. He grabbed her hand and ran with her back to the safety of the castle.

By the time they reached the castle gates they were already soaked through. They reached the front gate and Heather flung her arms out spinning. "I love the rain." She yelled with delight. Cedric laughed and danced with her in the rain.

She whooped with pure joy, thouroughly enjoying the moment. Cedric had been tolerable throughout the day, and dare she say it, she was enjoying herself as he danced with her through the rain and puddles. She was taken by surprise when he spun her around into his chest. She looked up into his eyes breathing hard from dancing. His eyes danced with the same joy she was feeling.

_'Even though his eyes are dark and cool there's so much life in there.'_ she thought to herself. He smiled softly as he tilted his head slightly and brought his face closer.

'_Whoa!! Mayday! Mayday!!! ABORT __**ABORT **__**ABORT!!!!!!!!!!**__' _She thought hysterically, she'd had a good time, but she wasn't going to kiss the guy!

"Ced! Hey Ced! Come here!" One of his friends said from across the way. Cedric looked slightly annoyed. He looked down at Heather's wide eyes before smiling.

"That was fun, we should do it again some time." He said as he winked at her. "Oh, and here." He threw the empty bag of mice at her before retreating.

Heather was left alone at the gates feeling wet, confused, and slightly cheated.

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**Yay, a nice and long chapter! I felt bad for making the last few short.**

**Oh, and **_**BEAUXBATON ISN'T AN ALL GIRLS SCHOOL**_**. I know that the movie made it out to be, and so do a lot of the fics on this site, but if you read the book it says that there are students of both sexes so don't flame me telling me it's an all girls school. HA! I'M RIGHT AND YOU'RE WRONG! LOL.**

**I want lots of reviews, I won't write if you don't review so there. LOL**

**-BellaCantante359**


	11. Chapter 11

**Authors note: So the last chapter was nice and long, I don't know if I'm going to make this one as long, but dammnit I'll try. LOL**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. . . I wish I did though. . . **

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**Chapter 11: The Chosen Four?**

Heather wandered into the great hall, still soaking wet. Ryan looked at her and shook her head. Heather grinned wickedly at her. "OH RYAN! I've missed you so much all afternoon! Come, give me a hug!" She said flinging her arms out. Ryan shrieked and took off running; Heather cackled and took off chasing her.

"Oh honestly, you're acting like a couple of first years." Hermione huffed as Heather tackled Ryan to the ground and hugged her, getting her friend as soggy as possible. "It's our seventh year Hermione; we don't want to leave so we're reverting to back to our old ways." Heather explained as she blew a raspberry at the fourth former as if to accentuate her point.

Hermione rolled her eyes and went back to reading the giant book resting on her lap.

"Anyone put their name in yet?" Heather asked as she performed a quick drying spell on her robes and hair. "All the Beauxbaton lot, they came in early this morning and put their names in." Ron answered. Just then Cedric and a few of his mates came running in. He was still soaking wet from the rain.

"Go on Ced, put it in." One of his friends urged. He walked across the age line and dropped a crisp piece of parchment into the goblet. The fire blazed as it licked at the paper. His friends cheered when he walked back.

"I hope the goblet picks you Cedric." Cho Chang said shyly. Cedric smiled at her causing her and her friends to twitter excitedly.

Heather rolled her eyes. Cho was easily one of the prettiest girls in the fifth year; half of the school was enamored with her. Who wouldn't be? She was pretty, smart, and good at quidditch. And to make things worse, it was almost impossible to hate her because she was so sweet. She wasn't vicious like she could be, but instead she was very kind and friendly. However, along with that sweet and friendly attitude came a fierce competitiveness, a character trait that helped her in her house no doubt. In the past, Cho hadn't exactly kept it a secret that she fancied Cedric. Anyone with half a brain could guess she liked him by the way she would throw him shy looks whenever he was near. She wanted him, and by the Gods she would probably have him by the end of term.

Cedric passed Heather and gave her a farewell wink before leaving the great hall with his mates. Cho threw Heather a sour look, but said nothing as she walked out to follow Cedric. Heather stuck her tongue out at the girl's retreating figure. She'd never really cared for Chang much. She was the female counter part to Cedric. Golden boy and golden girl.

From behind her there came a loud cheering, Heather turned to find the source of all the noise only to find the twins and their best friend Lee coming down to the goblet.

"Thank you! Thank you! Yes, we've done it!" Fred said.

"Done what?" Someone asked.

"Taken an aging potion, brewed it up this morning." George said with a triumphant grin.

"It's not going to work." Hermione sang.

"Oh yeah, why not? Fred snapped.

Hermione rolled her eyes and snapped her book closed. "Because, that circle you see there is an age line, Dumbledore drew it himself." She said bossily.

"So." They said.

She looked heavenward as if she were dealing with the extremely challenged. "So, a genius like Dumbledore couldn't possibly be fooled by something pathetically dimwitted like an aging potion." She quipped.

"Yes, but that's what it's so brilliant." George said. "Because it's so pathetically dimwitted." Fred finished.

"Ready Fred?" George asked as he held out his arm. "Ready George." His twin replied. They linked arms and jumped into the circle. Nothing happened. They put their names in and high fived each other. Suddenly there was a queer sizzling sound. In the next instant the twins were thrown out of the circle, each sporting a long white beard.

"You said!" They both accused as they wrestled on the floor.

"I did warn you." Said a deep baritone voice. The hall turned to see Dumbledore smiling with amusement. "I suggest that you go see Madam Pomfrey, she is already tending to a few other students that decided to age themselves a bit too. But I must say, neither of their beards are anything quite as fine as yours." He said as he left. The twins got up and hobbled to the infirmary with Lee howling with laughter behind them.

The halls chuckling ended abruptly when Victor Krum walked in. The girls twittered and fussed with their hair. He ignored them and strode up to the goblet. He put his name in the blazing cup and turned to leave, but not before offering Hermione a shy look. She blushed and smiled back. Ron was oblivious to this seeing as his idol was in the room; however the look was not lost on Heather.

She smiled to herself as she went up to the common room. _'This is going to get VERY interesting. . .'_

The three days came and went; it was the night that the chosen three would be named. Every one was on time for dinner that evening. Heather was walking down to the great hall for dinner, she was famished, Moody had lectured for a million years and she didn't think he was ever going to stop.

On her way into the dinning hall she smacked into on of the students form Beauxbaton. "Oh excuse me, I did not see you coming mademoiselle." Said a boy with blond hair and blue eyes. He bent down to help her pick up the papers that had gone flying during their collision.

"Sorry." She mumbled as she tried to shove her things in her messenger bag.

She stood up and went to go into the hall for dinner; she could smell all the wonderful food. She was stopped by someone tugging on her arm. She turned to find the boy she bumped into. "Can I 'ave the pleasure of ze lady's name?" He asked in a thick French accent.

"Heather." She answered stiffly before she turned to enter the hall once more, but much to her dismay the boy was still hanging onto her arm. She frowned at it and looked back up at him.

"I am Fritz. Please, allow me to escort you to ze 'all for dinner." He said with a smile, linking his arm with hers.

"Erm, thanks for the offer buddy, but I think I can get there on my own." She said and practically ran to the table, all of which Cedric found terribly amusing.

When Heather had finally reached the safety of the Gryfindor table she was telling Ryan all about "Creepy French Boy" when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Is this seat taken Mademoiselle?"

Heather's eyes widened in shock and horror she turned to rip the intruders hand off. She found that the hand belonged not to the strange blond boy, but to none other then Cedric who was laughing hysterically as he walked away. Furious, Heather threw a wadded up piece of parchment at him in response. Much to her satisfaction the paper hit him in the back of the head.

Once dinner was over Dumbledore stood. The hall fell silent in record time.

"It is time." He said, and the goblet was brought forward. "The goblet is almost ready to make its selection. Now, when the champion's names are called I am going to ask them to come to the front of the hall, walk along the staff table into the next chamber on the right where they will receive further instructions."

He waved his wand and all of the candles in the hall were extinguished, the only light came from the eerie blue flame from the goblet.

"Any moment now." Lee whispered as he leaned forward in his seat. The flames in the goblet turned a brilliant red that shot to the roof of the hall.

A single piece of parchment came fluttering down. Dumbledore reached up and picked the paper out of the air. "The champion representing Dumstrang is. . . Mr. Victor Krum." The hall erupted with cheers. Krum walked up to the staff table and disappeared into the next room.

A moment later flames exploded from the goblet once more. Dumbledore caught the parchment and called Mademoiselle Flure Delacour as the Beauxbaton champion. Heather looked up to find it was the giggly twit from a few nights ago.

"This is it." Someone said. Heather leaned forward in her seat. Once again the flames shot up and into the air as the last piece of parchment came fluttering down. "The champion that will be representing Hogwarts in the tri-wizard championship is. . . Mr. Cedric Diggory." The hall exploded with cheering. Heather felt her stomach clench the tiniest bit. Cedric walked up to the front of the hall smiling broadly. Once he had vanished from sight Dumbledore went on.

"Excellent! We now have out thee champions! But in the end, only one will go down in history. Only one will host the chalice of champions, this vessel of victory, the tri-wizard cup!" He said dramatically. Then the goblet grew red once more shooting out yet another piece of parchment.

Confusion ranged throughout the hall. Dumbledore picked the parchment out of the air and read the name. "_Harry Potter." _

The hall was silent. "Harry Potter." Dumbledore called again. Harry rose to his feet and walked to the front of the hall and disappeared into the same room that the others had gone through.

'_Oh my Go! No you stupid boy, he'll be killed!' _Heather thought.

'_**That was probably the idea.'**_

'_You mean it was set up?'_

'_**Why else would Harry's name be called? He has enough sense about him to know how dangerous this is.'**_ Heather's second voice said sagely.

Dumbledore took a few moments to settle the hall down. The Dumstrang and Beauxbaton students were furious. Heather got up and left the hall, she didn't want to hear anymore. Ryan followed.

"Do you think he did it?" She asked nervously. "No." Heather answered. "Harry might seem suicidal with the stupid stunts he's pulled in the past, but the last thing he wants is more attention." She said.

Ryan nodded even though she didn't look convinced. They reached the common room to find Ron fuming. "How could he put his name in and not tell me!?" He yelled.

"Don't be a git." Heather said. "Harry said he didn't want to do it so why would he lie?" She asked. Ron just turned purple and stormed up to the boys' dorms muttering.

Heather shook her head as she climbed the stairs to her room to get her books for Astronomy. She didn't know how Harry's name got in that cup, but she knew he wouldn't have put his name in there.

And Diggory… She groaned at the thought_. _

'_He's going to be impossible to live with after this, forget golden boy, he's gone platinum! AND I have every freaking class with him!'_

'_**You don't have ancient Runs with him'**_

'_Shut up.'_

Heather finished up the essay on Pluto quickly before walking up to the tower. She was debating whether she should just play sick or actually go to class, she was about to turn around and go back to bed when she herd footsteps. She hurried behind a suit of armor and hid. It was McGonagall. She was talking with Professor Flitwick. "We have no clue how the boy's name got in the chalice, but he has to compete now, he has no choice."

Heather couldn't believe her ears; they were actually going to let him do it! How could they send a fourteen year old boy into such a dangerous situation?

'_**He has no choice, if he backs out he dies remember.'**_

'_What!? How do you know that?'_

'_**We read it in Hogwarts a History remember.'**_

'_. . . . You're asking if I remember something form History of Magic? If you're still me than you should know me better by now.'_

Heather reached the astronomy tower on time and took her seat and began working. A few moments later she felt Cedric slide into the seat beside her. She didn't look up; she wasn't sure what he would be like. She was sure that he would feel cheated about Harry competing.

Harry was like a little brother, she would move mountains for that kid. She remembered the first time she met him. It was her fifth year and she was crashing at the burrow for the night. She'd had another fight with her dad and she needed a place to rest and recuperate.

She was sound asleep on the large lumpy sofa when he sat on her. It scared them both silly. He was screaming because the couch was alive, and she was having a heart attack because someone sat on her face. She remembered seeing him on the floor clutching his chest as if his heart was going to pop out of his chest. She smiled to herself at the memory.

The class ended and Heather gathered her things together as fast as she could, she had seen Diggory looking at her out of the corner of her eye. She practically threw her paper on the professor's desk and hurried out of the room.

"Foxx! Heather! Stop!" Cedric called. Heather ignored him; she wasn't in any mood to deal with golden boy. She made the pretence of slowing down before she took off running; she made a sharp left and hid in one of the secret passageways on the eighth floor. He heard Cedric stop running and stop for breath right in front of the tapestry Heather was behind.

"What's her problem?" He asked himself as he tried to catch his breath.

It seemed like ages until he left. Once he was gone Heather waited about fifteen minuets before stepping out. She looked around and smiled she walked down to the seventh floor where Gryffindor tower was only to find Cedric talking to the fat lady.

' _This freak doesn't know when to give up!' _

'_**Perhaps that is why he was chosen.'**_

'_Isn't it past your bedtime?' _Heather thought irritably.

She peeked around the corner to see if Cedric was still there, she came face to face with him instead.

She yelped in surprise and fell over backwards. His face had been a little too close for comfort.

"Boo." Was all he said. Heather glared at him and got up off of the floor.

"Why did you run away?" He asked.

"I needed some exercise." She said walking to the portrait only to find that the fat lady was gone.

'_Gah! Trapped! I'm trapped like a rat!'_

"Oh come on. Why did you run?" He asked again. "Is it about Harry?"

Heather sat against the wall to wait for the fat lady to come back.

"you know, they're letting him compete." He said, sliding down next to her.

"I know." She answered.

They sat together in the dark, an awkward hush eating up the silence. "I wonder who put his name in?" Cedric mused to himself after a few minuets.

"Y-you don't think he snuck it in?" She asked.

"No, he said in the trophy room that he didn't. If Dumbledore believes him then so do I."

Heather felt a rush of gratitude for him; she knew that Harry would have to put up with all kinds of back lash for this.

They sat in silence for another moment. "Are you nervous?" She asked.

"A little." He admitted. "I didn't think I would be chosen to compete." She rolled her eyes.

Finally, after what seemed like ages of embarrassed silence, the fat lady finally returned. After she had scolded Heather for being out of bed after hours she let her in.

"Good night." Cedric said. "Good morning's more like it." She said as she crawled through the portrait hole.

The next few days passed quickly and all anyone could talk about was how Harry had managed to sneak his name in the chalice. "How many times do I have to tell you! He didn't put it in!" Heather shouted at a passing pair of first years that were gossiping about it. She frightened the poor things silly.

"That's enough." Ryan said as she dragged her friend to lunch. Heather huffed and grabbed a sandwich.

Heather was sitting with the quidditch team listening to them talk about the upcoming match against Hufflepuff. The two teams had been throwing jeers back and forth for the past few days, even going so far as getting the entire table to yell out "Hufflepuff sucks!" During dinner one evening.

Cedric walked by the table and waved hello. The team glared at him in response. Harry gave a half hearted wave to the other seeker and champion. He obviously still felt horrid about being forced into the competition. Heather slung an arm around him and ruffled his hair. He hated it when she did that, but she was one of the only ones that could get away with it. Lunch ended and Heather was reluctant to get up. "Come on, you have to go to class, I don't think Moody would like it if you were late." Ryan chided.

"I don't wanna go." She said. Moody was going to be putting the Imperius curse on the students today, she wasn't keen on going. "Don't make me give you a detention." Ryan warned. Heather reluctantly got up. "Why did he have to make you a bloody prefect?" She grumbled.

"Probably so I could try and keep my friend in order." She shot back.

Heather grabbed her bag and grinned up at her friend. "And how's that workin' for ya?" she asked. Ryan rolled her eyes and went to her own class.

Heather reluctantly walked into class and quietly took her seat next to Cedric. She took out a quill and a piece of parchment and began to doodle; she needed something to do to keep her hands from shaking. She'd been under one of the curses before; she wasn't keen on having another on put on her.

**What's wrong?** Cedric wrote on her parchment.

_Nothing, lemme alone. _She scribbled back.

He smiled and wrote back. **No. **

'_God this guy's a pain in the arse. . .' _She thought. She was about to write back when Moody Hobbled into the room. "Alright, books and wands away. I want you all to que up against the wall."

Heather swallowed hard and stood up.

Professor Moody explained that he was going to put each of his students under the imperious curse. He reviewed the basics of the curse before he called the first person forward. "Davies, Rodger." Roger walked forward, he seemed confident enough. Moody told him to fight it and not to let his guard down.

"I know old man; let's just get it over with." Roger said with a cocky air. Moody glared at him,

"_Imperio_!"

Rodger went Ridged for a moment, then he began to Irish step dance. His eyes were glazed over, as though he were just a puppet. After a moment Moody took the curse off. Rodger stood there scowling.

"Next time you will remember not to be so discourteous in my class again."

Moody went down the line, one student after another succumbed to the curse, the only one that managed to throw it off was a young Ravenclaw girl named Laura. Heather began to shake as Moody went down the line of students.

"Foxx, Heather. Come on lass, let's see what you've got." Heather shakily went to the front of the room. She was determined to fight this thing, if Laura could do it then so could she. She felt her body relaxed a little bit as she looked in Moody's eyes.

The professor was a little taken aback when she looked him in the eyes, but it didn't matter, she would be under the curse in a moment. "_Imperio_!"

Heather felt warm and relaxed, like she had just slipped into a hot bath.

"_Do a cartwheel." _Moody's voice gently urged.

'_Okay.' _She thought, that sounded easy enough. She raised her arms into the air and got ready to leap.

'_**Wait, don't do it! The curse! Remember the curse! Fight it!' **_The second voice shouted.

Heather was half way into the cartwheel when she snapped out of it. She twisted to the right and landed firmly on her shoulder.

'_Holy mother of Merlin that hurts!' _

"YES!" Moody cried! "Yes girl, that's it! Did you see what she did? Did you see her eyes? Get up lass do it again."

'_He's got to be bloody kidding, I almost broke my arm!' _

"Come on come on, we don't have all day, get up so I can show the class, that's a good girl." Heather got to her feet and stood before the professor again.

"_Imperio_!" He shouted.

Heather was instantly thrown back into that wonderful warm feeling.

"_Do a cartwheel."_

'_**No.' **_The second voice calmly said.

"_Do it." _Moody commanded more forcefully.

'_**I won't'**_

"_DO THE CARTWHEEL!" _He yelled in her head. The warm feeling got warmer, she raised her arms to catch her balance and build momentum.

'_**Stop it! Get him out! Push the thought away! You are your own person; you never listened before so why start now! Fight it!'**_

She fell to her knees and broke out into a cold sweat as she mentally kicked Moody out of her head. She sat on the floor panting, trying to regain composure. She felt slightly dizzy, but she could faintly hear Moody in the background talking.

She pulled herself to her feet and got back in line. Cedric flashed her a small congratulatory smile before turning his attention to the front of the room where a Slytherin boy was being put under the spell. As it turned out there were five in the class that could eventually throw the curse.

"Very good, I am pleased with all of you." Moody said. "As you grow stronger some of you may be able to completely throw the curse one day." He said as he looked around the class. "And to those that actually managed to beat it, congratulations. It takes a great amount of skill and strength to overcome a curse as strong as this."

The bell rang and Moody was shouting out the homework assignment to the students as they filed out of the room.

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**So, I decided against making Cho Chang the mean girl. She started out that way when I first began typing this, but as I got more into the chapter is just kept bugging me. Almost EVERY CedricxOC fic on this site depicts Cho Chang as the "mean girl" and in all truth, she's really not. Sure in the books she sounds a bit wishy washy, but so what? I say we cut the poor girl a break. I mean, it's not her fault that she too fell in love with the boy that we all love to love is it? Besides I kind of like Cho. Us Ravenclaw's have got to stick together. ^_~**

**The new term for college is starting up again, and for some insane reason I'm signed up for 16, yes count them, 16 units. The next update may be a little late, but I'll get it out to you as soon as I have a chance to sit down with my beloved lap top. So please **

**R E M E M B E R to R E V I E W **

**and I'll get chapter 12 out as soon as I can.**

**With all my love, **

**-BellaCantante359**


	12. Chapter 12

**Authors note: So yeah, next chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own em.**

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**Chapter Twelve: Diggory is Dreamy but Potter is Hotter!**

The day of the first quidditch mach had finally arrived. Heather wandered into the great hall for breakfast and spotted the Gryffindor team huddled together. Much to the teams dismay Oliver was going over last minuet plays. Harry just kept nodding and staring at his toast. _'Poor kid, never could eat much on game day. . . .'_ She thought, then she heard it. The twittering of the fan girls. She looked behind her to see Cedric up followed by about thirty girls.

"Please ladies." He said with a grin. "I think I can polish my broom on my own." He said, obviously loving every second of it. His comment caused the twittering to grow louder.

'_Oh my God. Did he just say "polish my broom?" _Heather thought as she snorted with laughter

'_**Yeah. . . He did.'**_

She was helpless with laughter at the thought of the innuendo as she walked into the great hall. Cedric arched an eyebrow at her. "What on earth is so funny this early in the morning?" He asked. Heather composed herself just enough to answer him. "Oh nothing, just the fact that all of the girls want to help you _'Polish your broom'_"

Cedric was puzzled for a moment before his face turned red. He had just realized the hidden meaning in his words.

"That. Is not. What I meant." He stammered. Heather only laughed harder watching him sputter and blush. "Oh come off it, it was funny." She said as she sobered up.

She walked to the Gryffindor table, Diggory in tow still sputtering. "Just because you have a dirty mind doesn't mean that's what I was implying." He hissed.

"That's why it's called innuendo." She said. She got to the table and sat with Ryan and the team. "Morning all." She greeted as she poured herself a giant glass of orange juice.

Oliver glared at Cedric. "Diggory." He said curtly. "Morning Wood." Cedric said not really paying attention to the other captain, he was still trying to get Heather's attention. Upon hearing this Heather began to laugh again, which caused her to spray George with juice. Cedric instantly began to turn red again and resumed sputtering. The entire team roared getting the joke.

"Why can't you be more ladylike? You're such a disgrace." Cecily said to Heather as she came over to wish Cedric good luck.

"Now where's the fun in that?" She asked as she began to regain some control. "Just think of it this way, I make you look good. While I laugh with my mates and enjoy life as a disgrace, you can sit and watch with that stick up your bum." Those that were close enough to hear Heather's comment laughed, Cedric managed to turn his laughter into a cough when Cecily shot him a glare. The girl took a deep breath to continue the argument.

Heather looked at the non-existent watch on her wrist and said. "Oh dear me! Will you look at the time! I have to run, I have to meet your father the queen for tea. Ta ta!" She said as she started out for the pitch. The team roared with laughter and followed her out the door to the field.

The stands were packed; there wasn't an empty seat in the stadium. Heather grinned like a mad woman and she sat down at the commentators table. "Now, did you read the pamphlet on proper commentating techniques?" McGonagall asked brusquely. "Yeah yea, now how do I turn this thing on?" Heather asked excitedly. The professor raised her eyes heavenward as if begging the gods to give her strength.

Heather charmed the mega phone and grinned. _'This is gonna be so much fun. . . .'_

"Welcome to the first quidditch match of the year!" Heather's voice sang as she commentated, "And what a perfect day for another Gryffindor victory, the sun is shining and there isn't a cloud in the sky, the birds are singing -"

"Get on with it, Foxx," Professor McGonagall hissed through clenched teeth. "Righto professor."

"Okay, on the Gryffindor team, we have Oliver wood as Keeper! The twins, Fred and George Weasley as Beaters! Katie bell, Alicia Spinnet, and Angelina Johnson as the Chasers! And last but certainly not least, the one and only Harry James Potter as Seeker!" Heather called out as the blur of red robes zipped out onto the pitch. The Gryffindor fans screamed wildy.

"And now, we have the Gryffindor adversaries for the day. . . . . Hufflepuff." Heather said simply.

The Hufflepuf team flew out onto the pitch.

"Right, so there's the Keeper, the Chasers, the Beaters, and the Seeker," Heather said lamely as she pointed to the Hufflepuff team members in turn.

"Their names, Foxx." McGonagall growled menacingly.

"Um, they slipped my mind, Professor," Heather smiled sheepishly. McGonagall made a move to take the mega phone away and Heather quickly said the names of the team. The Hufflepuffs went wild, well, Cedric's fan club anyway.

The two team captains shook hands as madam Hooch set the balls free.

"And they're off!" she cried excitedly, "And Gryffindor quickly takes control of the quaffle! Spinnet passes to Johnson and she passes to - intercepted by Hufflepuff, Falahan's got the Quaffle, and he shoots..."

The Quaffle hit Oliver square in the face, knocking the air out of him as he held onto the ball, gripping his nose.

"Foul play!" Heather screamed as she pointed to the chaser, "You can't take out the Keeper like that!"

Heather took a few deep breaths and continued. "The quaffle's passed to Bell, watch out for that bludger – Ohh, and Bell is hit with a bludger, Hufflepuff takes the quaffle. Murray passes to Falahan who shoots. . . . and he misses!" Heather yelled. "Oliver passes the quaffle to Johnson. Wow! Excellent flying skills displayed by our very own Miss Johnson! She takes aim, and she scores! 10 - 0 for Gryffindor, in your face!" Heather screamed in delight.

The game had been going on for Three hours, some of the spectators had vouched to go inside and listen to the commentation rather then stay outside in the cold. "And the score is now 50 – 70 with Hufflepuff in the lead." Heather said as she rubbed her hands together for warmth. "We've been out here watching the two houses duke it out for nearly three hours now. . . . WILL SOMEONE PLEASE CATCH THE BLODDY SNITCH SO WE CAN GO!?" Heather hollered.

Suddenly, Cedric dove for the ground.

"Has he seen the snitch!?" Heather asked. "Potter is hot on Diggory's tail, their neck and neck, come on Harry! Get the lead out!" Heather screamed.

Both boys stretched their hands out. "And who has it? This is it, who wins????" Harry put on an extra burst of speed and shot forward, grabbing the snitch. He pulled out of the dive and held his arm high in the air waving the small golden orb.

"AND GRYFFINDORE WINS IT! What a game, Gryffindor beats Hufflepuff 300 – 70!!!" Heather shouted as her voice rang throughout the stadium. The cheering of the crowd was tremendous. Heather quickly left the commentators seat and ran down to the field to go and congratulate her team. She reached the field and sprinted toward the crowd that had formed. She pushed her way through the masses singing out "We won we won!!!!" She spied Harry celebrating and jumped on his back.

"What an amazing catch!" Heather congratulated. Harry beamed at her comment, that is, until she smacked the top of his head. "OW! What was that for?" He asked.

"That, was for waiting so bloody long to catch the snitch." She replied. He laughed and she urged him forward with her famous "Onward my faithful stud!" They were dancing their way back to the castle when she spied Cedric who was surrounded by fan girls that were sporting shirts that had "Diggory is Dreamy" Flashing across the middle.

"OI!" She called to them. The girls turned around and glared at her. She merely grinned and shouted "You may think Diggory is Dreamy, but Potter is Hotter!!!" She hollered at them. She grinned in amusement as she saw the back of Harry's neck and ears turn red. She laughed as she jumped off his back.

"Last one to the castle is Filche's wife!" She hollered. Harry looked at Cedric and shrugged, then bolted for the castle. Not wanting to be Fliche's wife Cedric also bolted off toward the castle laughing at the puzzled looks of the girls he left behind.

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**Oh.**

**Em.**

**Gee.**

**I am SO incredibly sorry that it took me so long to get this chapter out. I also apologize for the shortness of the chapter, but in my defense I have a pretty good excuse.**

**Remember those 16 units I signed up for? Well I'm getting my ass kicked right now. I've got so much work to do that I have literally had to change my sleeping habits and go nocturnal.**

**Every weekday I get up at 5:30 AM and go to school from seven until late afternoon, then I come home and take care of some stuff around the house, sleep for an hour or two before I go to work. When I get out of work (which is around 11 or 12) I come home, do the homework I have, go to sleep around Three in the morning and get up at 5:30 AM to do it all over again. Sometimes I forgo the afternoon nap to take on the odd tutoring job. I've been so tired I haven't had the energy to boot up my laptop for anything other than to write a paper or some other school related stuff. **

**Please forgive me. I'll work harder on trying to update sooner, I can promise you that the next chapter will not take so long. I fully intend on finishing this and I have no plans on giving up any time soon. Just bear with me for now.**

**-BellaCantante359**


	13. Chapter 13

**I bet your waiting to see what happens next huh.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. . . . So uhh, yeah, don't sue me or anything.**

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**Chapter Thirteen: But You Owe Me for the Mice**

After the quidditch game Heather's mood began to lift considerably, she'd even tolerated Golden Boys ramblings throughout DADA.

"So, if you're such a quidditch enthusiast why didn't you try out for the team?" He asked one Tuesday evening. Heather snorted into the notes she was taking. "Because, I would bloody kill myself. I hate flying." She said.

"How can you hate flying?" Cedric asked incredulously. "It's the best thing on earth."

"Oh yeah, hurdling yourself through the air on a tooth pick is the best thing on earth." She retorted with a small shudder. "If we were meant to fly we would have wings." She added as she put the final punctuation mark on her notes before collecting her things to go down to dinner. Cedric quickly gathered his things and followed her out the door. "Have you ever been flying?" He asked.

She shuddered again. "Yes, in first year. Don't you remember? I shot into the air, screamed bloody murder before I flew into a tree."

"Oh yeah." Cedric said as he recalled Heather flailing through the air shrieking. "Well have you gone flying since?" He asked.

"No!" Why on earth was he still following her anyway? She hitched her bag higher on her shoulder and walked faster.

"Well then, I guess we're going to have to fix that aren't we." He called after her.

'_Uh-oh. . . . I really don't like the sound of that.' _

'_**Neither do I.'**_

She stopped and turned to face him. "What do you mean _we're going to have to fix that_?" She asked. He smiled at her, his eyes dancing with mischief.

Heather began to shake her head violently from side to side. "Nuh-uh. Don't even start thinking it golden boy. There is absolutely NO way I am going to be getting on a broom." She said panicking slightly.

"Ah ah, But you forget, you still owe me for the mice." He pointed out. Heather shook her head violently again. "Unless you're up for that lap dance that is." He added impishly.

'_**Face it girl, your going flying.'**_

'_But you hate flying too!!!!'_

'_**Eep!'**_

Heather thought franticly for any way out of it. Finding none she grudgingly nodded her head in defeat.

"Cool, meet me at the portrait of the young unicorn on the seventh floor at nine o'clock." He said as he walked over to the Hufflepuff table with a smug look on his face.

Heather hardly ate anything throughout dinner. She was afraid that if she ate anything she was going to end up throwing it all up when she got in the air. Barfing in front of Cedric didn't seem like a good idea.

"Heather? Are you sick? You've hardly eaten anything, and there's pie!" George said.

"There's never any pie left at the table when you're here." Fred added.

"I just uhhh, don't feel very hungry." She said.

"She must be sick." Ron decided. In fact, Heather almost looked green. Ryan kicked her under the table. Heather looked up from her un-touched plate, Ryan pointed to the exit. Heather grabbed her things and followed her out of the great hall.

They were no more then twenty paces out of the hall when Ryan asked her what the heck her problem was. "Flying" Heather squeaked. Ryan looked at her quizzically. Her friend was making no sense. Ryan knew that there was no magic on earth that would ever get Heather on a broom willingly. "What are you talking about?"

Heather looked up to the ceiling and grabbed Ryan and explained about the stupid I.O.U. as she dragged her up to the dorms.

After Heather had explained about her unusual contract with the head boy all Ryan could do was laugh.

"Shut up! I'm screwed here!" Heather snapped as she paced around the room. "I'm sorry, it's just the fact that only you would end up making a deal like this with the one person you _supposedly_ can't stand." Ryan said after she had overcome the fit of giggles. "What do you mean _supposedly_? I can't stand the sneaky. . . . Sneak." Heather sulked.

"Oh come on, sneaky sneak?"

"Yes!" Heather fumed. "He is sneaky, like how he blackmailed me into going to Hogsmead with him!"

Ryan rolled her eyes. "He didn't blackmail you, he got you out of detention, it's not like he threatened to fling your granny panties at the head master." Heather blanched at the thought and made a mental note to burn the offensive undergarments later. "And besides, you had a good time with him didn't you?" Ryan asked.

Heather wanted to protest, but she did have fun. "Well, yeah. . . But then he got all weird when we were puddle jumping. I mean, it was an outing, not a date. I sure as hell wasn't gonna kiss him." Ryan's eyes bugged out of her head. "You kissed him?" She asked in disbelief.

"Ack! Merlin no! We were dancing in the rain and the next thing I know his face is getting closer!" Ryan stood up and walked over to Heathers bunk and promptly smacked her upside the head. "Why was I not informed of this!?" She demanded.

"Ouch! Geeze woman, if this is what you're like when I didn't tell you imagine what you would have been like if I had!" Heather snapped as she rubbed her head.

"Look, he didn't kiss me, so what's the big deal?" Ryan shook her head and began to rummage through Heather's trunk. "What are you doing?" Heather asked when she noticed that Ryan had pulled out her best pair of jeans. "I'm getting you some clothes, unless you want to go flying in your skirt." Ryan stated.

"Who said I was going!? There is no way I'm gonna go!" Heather shouted.

"But you made a promise." Ryan said after she had retrieved Heather's brown sneakers.

"So, I'll just stand him up. I mean, someone would have dared him to eat one of those mice sooner or later." Heather rationalized as she paced around the room.

"But you dared him to eat a dozen of them." Ryan said as she laid the clothes out on the bed before she turned and dug further into Heather's trunk for the brown hoodie jacket to go over the white shirt.

"Well I'm not going." Heather said. Ryan grinned wickedly before raising her wand. "Imobulous!"

It was five minuets to nine when Ryan deposited Heather in front of the portrait. She cast a mild sticking charm that would ware off when Diggory showed up. "Have fun!" Ryan said as she patted Heather on the head before she disappeared down the hall laughing manically.

"DANM YOU WITCH!" Heather shouted after her as she tried to remover her feet from their current position. Her attempts at un-sticking her feet proved to be futile. _'Damn her, why does she have to be so good at sticking charms?' _She had no choice but to wait for golden boy to show up.

She glanced at her watch, it was three minuets after nine. "If he forgot and I'm stuck here all night I'm going to Avada Kadavra them both." She muttered.

"And who is it that I have the pleasure of dying with?" Cedric asked as he came out of the portrait. Heather was so startled at Cedric's sudden appearance she fell over.

"What the hell! You should say something before popping out of paintings like that!" She accused. He chuckled and helped her up. "Come on in." He said turning back to the portrait hole.

She could have run away, but curiosity got the better of her. _'Well, this is the only time I'm going to be able to see the heads quarters.'_ She reasoned. She crawled in after him and found herself in a room that was not unlike the Gryffindor common room. The only difference was that instead of red and gold it was decorated in the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw colors. "Come on, I just have to grab my broom." He said as he beckoned her to follow.

She followed him into his room expecting to find Hufflepuff colors and thousands of trophies and awards. Instead she entered a room with yellow walls that had a few posters of his favorite quidditch players, and a dark blue carpet. On top of the dresser there were a few pictures of his family and friends, he had a queen sized bed and a small desk all to himself.

'_Oh if Cecily could see me now.' _Heather thought as she looked around the room. It was relatively neat, save for a few clothes on the floor. "Sorry 'bout the mess." Cedric said as he began to pick up the small piles of clothes.

'_Well what do you know, he is a boxers man.' _Heather grinned to herself. _'I wonder how valuable this information would be?'_ She mused as Cedric opened the large bay windows. She was yanked from her thoughts when he pulled out his broom, a star dust 3000. He mounted the broom and motioned for her to come forward. "Come on."

"You know, maybe this isn't such a good idea." Heather said hurriedly. "It's so cold outside we'll both catch pneumonia and die."

"Ah ah ah, I don't think so, you owe me remember, now get on."

Heather reluctantly climbed onto the broom behind Cedric. _'I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die.'_

"Hang on." He said before he took off.

Heather felt the ground leave her feet and she tightened her hold around Cedric's middle. She felt her stomach drop as they rose higher into the air; she whimpered and buried her head into his back. "Open your eyes." He gently commanded. She shook her head no vigorously into his back. She'd gotten on to the bloody broom, wasn't that enough? She felt the rumble in his chest as he laughed. "You're really missing out on a fantastic view." He chided.

She tentatively looked up to peer over his shoulder, what she saw made her breath catch in her throat. The picture that lay before her was absolutely stunning, she's always loved the way Hogwarts looked at night, but seeing it from above brought an even more stunning beauty to the old castle.

Cedric veered left and flew low over the lake. She could see the giant squid propelling its self lazily around the lake. The small water sprites shot out of the water and danced on the smooth surface as they flew by.

After a while Heather was starting to enjoy the feeling of the wind rushing around them. She threw her head back and laughed at the pure joy she felt, flying really wasn't all that bad she concluded. The sound of her laugher made him smile. Sensing that she was more comfortable, he told her to hold on tight before he put on an extra burst of speed as he flew over the forest. She was startled at the sudden change of speed, she held on tightly as they shot through the night.

They had been out for hours flying around the grounds. They were currently hovering above a small clearing in the forest watching the fairie solstice. Heather couldn't believe she was actually watching the solstice, it only occurred once every ten years. To see it was a rare and coveted thing, the legend was that only the pure in heart are able to see the solstice.

"See, it's not so bad." Cedric said as they watched the fairies dance in the night.

"Its okay, but you still bullied me into going." Heather said.

"Well, look at it this way, if I hadn't had _bullied_ you into it then you would have never seen all this." He had a point, she never would have gotten on a broom, and she would have missed the solstice. She glanced down at her watch and gasped.

"You dolt! Do you know what time it is?" She demanded. "It's twelve thirty eight! We are so freaking late!!!!" Cedric paled at the thought the Professor wrath and immidiatly turned the broom around and shot off back to the school.

"And to think I had managed to go three whole days without landing myself another detention." Heather grumbled to herself as Cedric flew back to the castle.

Professor Sinistra had been furious to say the least. After thoroughly scolding the two she took seventeen points from each house and assigned at detention to the both of them.

"Seventeen points! That's a bit harsh for being late to one lousy class." Cedric fumed. "Oh come off it, she caught us flying across the campus with the telescope, and you're the golden boy, its not like you won't gain them back tomorrow." Heather teased as she enjoyed his anguish.

"And detention too! I haven't had detention since I was a third year!" He continued. Heather rolled her eyes. "Yes, we know, you never break the rules. . . ."

"No, I just don't get caught." He said with a wink.

"_There it is again! That winking thing!" _Heather frowned and continued to walk back to her dorm. "Erm, well, thanks for the ride. . . ." Heather said once they had arrived at the Gryffindor common room. _'Why is this part always weird?'_

"I told you flying is fun, you should listen to me more often."

Heather snorted and climbed into the passage. "Whatever. G'night." She said. "Oh, and I'll see you tomorrow night in detention." Now it was her turn to laugh at his face as the portrait door closed. She chuckled to herself as she made her way to the steps that lead to the girls' dormitory.

"And where do you think you are going young lady? Do you even know what time it is?" A voice asked.

Heather jumped and spun around to come face to face with Ryan. "Good lord woman you scared the wits out of me! I was about to karate chop your face!"

"Oh come off it, it's not like you had a lot of wit to lose." Ryan said as she grinned impishly at her friend. Heather huffed and headed up to the dormitory. "So. . . . . Ho did your date go?" Ryan asked as she followed Heather into their room.

"It wasn't a date!" Heather hissed, as she tip toed across the room, mindful not to wake Cecily.

"You're not getting off the hook that easily, I know that you had a good time, you have that same look in your eye like you did that time you bewitched Marcus' robes to flash I'M GAY on the back in fifth year." Heather smiled remembering how the surly Slytherin had gone insane trying to figure out what everyone was laughing at. "That was pretty funny." Heather agreed as she pulled off her shoes and started to get ready for sleep.

"Tell me." Ryan whispered.

"Tell you what?" Heather asked innocently. Ryan smacked her with the pillow in response. "Okay okay okay, you don't have to revert to your troll like self, I'll talk!" Heather said hurriedly as she ducked the bombardment.

"Good." Ryan said as she lowered her weapon. "Spill, and don't give me any of that _he took me flying okay good night_ crap, I want every. Single. Detail."

"Fine." Heather sighed and pulled her night clothes on. Heather recounted the nights events to Ryan as she continued to get ready for bed. Ryan sighed and fell backwards onto her pillow. "How romantic…" "Don't even go there." Heather warned.

Ryan was starry eyed and hugging her favorite stuffed dragon Muffy. "Flying around on a broom, over the lake, into the stars, and seeing the solstice of all things… You have to admit, it is terribly romantic." Heather snorted and extinguished the lamp.

The girls sat in silence for a while before Ryan called Heather's name. "Yes?" Heather asked, half asleep. "Will you name one of the children after me? My name works both ways you know." The reply she got was a pillow in her face and a half hearted threat to give Muffy to Fred and George for experimentation.

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**Hot damn! I got almost 870 hits on my last chapter. That's really cool!**

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…**.**

**Now if I could only get my myspace page to be half as interesting. lol**

**Please review and chapter 14 will soon follow. **

**-BellaCantante359**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters mentioned in this fiction, nor do I make any money from it. All original characters and plot are of my own design.**

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**Chapter fourteen: Mushroom hunting and visiting hours**

Heather was in the middle of ancient runes when a small second year came in with a note from Professor Sinistra informing her of the time and place for her detention. Heather sighed as she read the paper. Apparently she and Diggory were going to have to go into the forbidden forest and gather fresh leaping toadstools for the potions master.

'_Great, as if landing in detention because of Diggory wasn't bad enough I have to go and hunt for vegetables with him… UNDER SNAPES SUPERVISION NO LESS!' _

She sighed and resisted the urge to bang her head against the table for a measure and went down to dinner.

Ryan was sympathetic towards her friend when she found out what the sentence of her detention would be. Ryan may have been a stickler for the rules, but spending three hours running around in the dark with Snape was her idea of a nightmare. "But look on the bright side; you'll have Cedric to protect you from that greasy haired git!" Ryan said as she dodged the carrot that Heather had thrown at her in response.

Heather was coming out of the portrait hole after changing into some old clothes when she spied Cedric a few yards ahead of her. By the looks of it he had changed as well, sporting attire similar to her own (an old sweat shirt and an old pair of jeans). Not many people would have thought to change before hand, but years of experience had taught her that Detention + Snape = one very dirty job. She sighed and followed the Hufflepuff down the stair case to meet the potions master at the gate.

Professor Snape was waiting for them at the front gates holding two nets and two large burlap sacks. He looked down at his pocket watch and made a noise low in his throat. "Follow me." He said brusquely. Heather cringed, but complied and followed the greasy haired man out into the darkness. Cedric cast Heather a sidelong glance as they walked out towards the forest.

The trio walked up to the edge of the forest and stopped; Professor Snape turned and addressed the two delinquents.

"I'm sure that you are aware of what your task for the evening is am I correct?" He asked in his signature monotone drawl. The two nodded their heads yes and he continued.

"I will escort you into the forest to where the leaping toadstool is located, seeing as you are both in your seventh year I am assuming that you are aware of the proper procedures of dealing with the gathering of leaping toadstool." The pair of them grimaced, but again nodded in the affirmative. Snape gave a curt nod and turned to enter the forest.

Heather followed him without missing a beat; Cedric however, hesitated for a moment. Heather noticed that Cedric hadn't followed and looked behind. He was looking into the forest with a mix of apprehension and curiosity. "Come on you slow poke, I'm not going to harvest all of it by my self." He snapped back to reality and followed the spunky Gryffindor girl further into the woods.

They followed Snape deep into the forest until they came to stop at a small clearing where a patch of the small fungi was growing. "It is here that you will serve your detention, once you have finished collecting the toadstools send up red sparks and I will come and collect you. I have other business to attend to this evening," He said as he gently touched his arm.

"Mr. Diggory." Cedric stiffened at the sound of his name. "I am putting you in charge, I trust that all will be in order by the time I return."

"What about me Professor?" Heather piped up. The Professor gave her a dead pan look and said, "Get to work." And with a flourish of his cloak he turned and started back the way he came.

"Grouchy old git." Heather mumbled. She sighed and looked around. "Well, we might as well get started…" She said. She picked up one the nets and handed Cedric a sack. "It's easier to catch em if we work together, if we get done early we can explore a little bit."

"Explore!?" Cedric exclaimed. "It's the forbidden forest! You don't know what kind of things are-" He was abruptly cut of by Heather's hand over his mouth.

"Shut up you ninny! If you make too much noise you'll scare em away!" She hissed. "And besides," She continued as she tip toed up to the patch of unsuspecting vegetation. "You'll never make it through the tournament with an attitude like that." She crouched down low on her hunches and wiggled a little bit in anticipation.

"Ready?" She asked.

"Ready." He said with a slight laugh to his voice.

"All right, on the count of three. One… Two… Three! Yaaaaaa!!!!" At the count of three she sprang forward and pounced on the mushrooms causing them to squeak and hop about.

Mushrooms were bouncing as high as seven feet off the ground all around them. "I thought too much noise would scare them away." Cedric laughed as he helped Heather deposit the net full of toadstools into the sack he was holding, careful not to let them escape. "Yes, but this is now about the thrill of the hunt! Charge!" She shouted as she darted forward to capture more toadstools.

As far as detentions went, this was the most fun Cedric had ever had. They spent the next two hours running around chasing jumping fungi and laughing like a couple of children. By the time both sacks were full both of them were muddy and out of breath. "Well, that was an adventure." Cedric stated as he plopped down next to the wriggling and squeaking bags that contained their catch.

Heather however wasn't paying attention; she was focused on one last mushroom that had managed to elude her for the entire evening. He watched her as she crept forward and sprang at the mushroom with a "gotcha!" only to see her miss. He chuckled to himself as she cursed and tried to creep up on it once more. _'She really keeps things interesting.'_ He thought to himself as he continued to observe her. She had leaves and twigs sticking out of her braided hair and she had a smudge of dirt on the side of her nose, she was humming the theme from the pink panther as she tried once again to trap the elusive Mushroom. He laughed again at yet another failed attempt to attain the impalpable fungi.

The hopping fungus proved to be rather amusing entertainment for Cedric, but after fifteen minuets he suggested that they send the sparks up and head inside.

"No way, this is personal now." Heather said as she eyed her target yet again. The toadstool kept getting farther and farther away from her.

"Hey," he called. "Don't go in so far!" A thump and mild cursing was his reply. He sighed and cast a locomotor charm on the wriggling sacks and followed the sounds of mushroom hunting.

"Will you come on all ready, it's cold and we need to clean up before we get to Sinistra's… Look out!"

Heather was about to pounce on the mushroom yet again, and she was unknowingly creeping closer and closer to a bjorndracorious (a giant green, bear like creature with a lions main that spits fire), which ironically was waiting to pounce on her.

"I've almost got-" She was abruptly cut off by a savage roar as the giant beast sprang forward. She screamed in fright and fell backwards as the thing charged.

Cedric ran forward and fired stunning spell after stunning spell at the creature, but due to the steel like scales that covered its body the attacks proved to be fruitless. He was starting to panic as the beast crawled over Heather. "Hold on!" He cast the oppugno charm on a large rock and aimed it at the monster.

The rock instantly rocketed out of the earth and began to attack the beast. It roared and backed up as it fought back against the giant rock. Cedric ran over to Heather and helped her to her feet. She had a large cut on her side. "Are you okay?" He asked. Her eyes were wide as she fired a spell over his shoulder. She sent a stinging spell at the animals eyes as it charged yet again, this only managed to anger the beast further, it howled in pain as is arched it's back and shot a fire ball at them.

Cedric cast a quick flame freezing charm over the both of them, causing the fire to pass over them with a slight tickling sensation. The bjorndracorious ran forward and knocked them apart. Heather heard the sickening crunch as her leg broke. She cried out in pain as the monster rounded on them once again. Cedric jumped in front of Heather and fired another curse at the creature. This had a more prominent effect, causing the beast to fly backwards a few hundred feet.

Heather's leg seared in pain as she looked up at Cedric's face. He was standing in front of her as he used the oppugno charm again at the monster keeping it busy for the mean time. Heather grabbed her wand and thought of the fun she had had earlier in the evening.

"Expecto Patronum!" She cried. A sliver mist erupted from her wand tip as a gazelle appeared in front of them. She sent it running towards the animal; the silver gazelle ran around in front of the beast capturing its attention. The bjorndracorious roared and swiped at the apperation. The gazelle sprang backward and began to lead the beast away from the two teens.

Heather lowered her wand and slumped forward. Cedric dropped to his knees and asked if she was okay.

"I think my leg is broken." She hissed as she tried to move it. He looked at her leg and it was indeed twisted at an unnatural angle, and she had a rather large cut on her side from where the beast has scratched her. She looked up at his face as he tied his sweat shirt around her mid section to staunch the blood flow. "You're bleeding." She said. Cedric only then noticed the large cut over his eye.

"I'm fine, let's get you out of here." He said as he sent the sparks in the air. He helped her up to his shoulder and helped her limp over to the original site.

'_I feel dizzy…'_

"Hey Cedric?"

"Yeah?" He answered as he supported more of her weight. "If I die… Make sure that Fred and George keep their hands off of my knickers." She said before promptly passing out.

He looked at her bewildered as the Professor showed up demanding to know what had happened as he bent over the Foxx girl to examine her injuries. "Bjorndracorius." Cedric said and winced as he started to feel the soreness set into his body. Professor Snape conjured a stretcher and levitated the unconscious girl onto it. She mumbled something incoherent as the Professor levitated her off towards the castle.

Heather was mildly disoriented when she woke up, but after noting the white curtains and the clean medicinal smell she identified that she was indeed in the hospital wing. Her previous adventure slowly came back to her, the leaping toadstools, the bjorndracorious, the Patronus she conjured; she could vaguely remember that she passed out onto Cedric.

"Oh good, I see that you're finally awake." came the voice of Madam Pomfry.

"Finally?" Heather asked.

"You've been out for the past two and a half days." Madam Pomfry said matter of factly as she shone the tip of her illuminated wand in Heather's eyes. Heather tried to sit up only to hiss in pain. "Lie back down!" Madam Pomfry scolded. "You don't want that wound to open up again; I was barely able to get all the poison out." Heather gingerly pulled up her gown and looked down to find that her side was bandaged. "You are very lucky that Professor Snape and young Mr. Diggory got you here so quickly, the poison from a bjorndracorious is nasty stuff." Clucked the old nurse.

It was only then that she thought of Cedric, she looked around the small infirmary searching for the Hufflepuff boy. As if reading her thoughts Madam Pomfry said, "He's fine dear, he had a nasty cut above his left eye, and several bruises, but other than that he was relatively unscathed." Heather relaxed a little and sat back as the nurse fussed over her. "Such a kind young man, but he's been a bloody nuisance, came in at least five times today already."

"Diggory came to see me?"

"Yes, and a few others." Madam Pomfry replied as she nodded to a small pile of candy and notes. Heather gingerly reached over and took the first off the stack; it was a bag of bertie botts beans from Ron, Harry, and Hermione, and some liquorish wands from Fred and George. Next there was a note from Ryan saying _GET WELL SOON YOU NINNY! _Along with a list of the assignments that she had missed while she was unconscious. She had to smile at the small figure that Ryan had drawn; it was a picture of a stick woman beating up a bjorndracorious.

She looked over again at the small pile and eyed a bouquet of roses warily. She read the note and rolled her eyes when she read the inscription.

_To the beautiful lady,_

_I do hope that you are feeling well soon and I hope that I will have the pleasure of seeing you again._

_I hope that the flowers are to your liking, beautiful roses for a beautiful girl._

_-Fritz_

Heather tossed the note back on top of the flowers and went for the bag of chocolate frogs. There was a small note attached to the side of the bag.

_Heather,_

_Hope you're back on your feet soon, it's bloody boring without you in defense against the dark arts._

_-Cedric_

_(A.K.A. "Golden Boy." "Dolt" "Ninny" ECT…)_

_P.S. Your "valuables" are safe from the twins._

A play of emotions found their way across Heather's face, she was amused and pleased with the chocolate and the note, and she was irritated that his antics had amused her.

"What's the matter lassie? Don't like chocolate?" Came a ruff voice. Heather jumped at the intruder's voice and turned to the door to find Professor Moody standing in the door frame. He hobbled over to her and took a seat in the chair beside the bed.

"Professor?" Why he was in here sitting at her bedside had her befuddled.

The old wizard said nothing as he made himself comfortable in the old wooden chair. He groaned slightly as he lowered himself down. "It looks like you and Mr. Diggory were either very lucky or very skilled in order to get out of that mess. A bjorndracorious is nothing to play around, in 1981 a nasty one nearly burned my arm off." He said as he pulled up his sleeve to reveal a nasty looking burn.

Heather eyed him warily, she still wasn't sure why he was there, and she doubted that he wanted to share battle scar stories. His magical eye spun and landed on the note in her hands. "So, my class is boring huh?" He growled.

Heather looked down at the note and color stained her cheeks, she quickly stuffed the note under her pillows. "Is there something I can help you with Professor?" She asked.

Moody stared at her for a moment before handing her a letter. "This came for you this morning."

Heather looked at the letter curiously and went to reach for it.

"It's from your father."

She pulled her hand back swiftly as if the parchment had burned her. The letter was indeed from her father, the family seal was pressed tightly against the parchment. The color left her face.

"Aren't you going to read it?" The Professor asked as he observed her carefully.

Heather eyed the letter with apprehension; anything her father had to say was not going to be pleasant. She cleared her throat and told the Professor that she was no longer in contact with her father and she did not want the letter.

Moody leveled her with a steady gaze as he stood to leave. "Be careful lass," he said. "Aaron Foxx is not one to be crossed lightly, I would know."

Heather resisted the urge to roll her eyes, as if she wasn't already aware of this, she had lived with the man for most of her life after all. Professor Moody gave her one last calculating look before he left the room. Heather let out a breath she didn't realize that she was holding.

'_What on earth does my father want? It's not like he put up such a fuss when I left.' _She mused to herself.

'_**Whatever it is, it must be something of importance, at least to him.'**_

Heather snorted at this thought. _'The man was happy to see me go, what on earth could he want now?'_

'_**Well whatever it is I don't like the sound of it. Best keep on your toes for now.'**_

Heather sighed and closed her eyes. She had to agree with her wiser half on this one. Moody wasn't lying, Aaron Foxx really wasn't one to cross, his tempter was legendary, and his cruelty is just as infamous. Her musing was interrupted by an increasingly familiar voice.

"That's an awful heavy sigh for the middle of the day." She opened her eyes and looked up to find Diggory setting his bag down next to the chair as he settled himself down. She felt a mix of relief and aggravation upon seeing him. She was glad for the interruption of her thoughts, but his familiar attitude made her frown.

"I see you got the chocolate." He said nodding his head to the bag in her hands.

"Er, uh, yeah… Thanks."

Cedric smiled and spied the flowers. "So, who's that from?" He asked indicating the flowers. Heather sighed and showed him the note from creepy French boy. He laughed heartily at the cheesiness of the letter. "So, Heather's got an admirer." Cedric teased. Heather threw a wadded up chocolate frog wrapper at him. "Shut up Diggory." She said around a mouthful of chocolate.

"Oh so it's back to the surname now?" He asked playfully. Heather was confused; she had always called him Diggory, or at least some other name. When she pointed this out to him he only chuckled and refreshed her memory. "You called me Cedric last night before you passed out."

Heather was internally horrified at herself. "I didn't mean to!" She said as a blush crept up her face. "I was delirious." She reasoned.

She sat there fuming while trying to formulate a cohesive argument while he silently laughed at her with an irritatingly amused smugness.

"Hello Mr. Diggory, back again I see." Madam Pomfry said as bustled over. She handed Heather a gobletful of an acid green potion and fussed about the pillows. Heather looked into the cup and grimaced.

"You'd better drink up; you want that scar to heal up properly don't you?" Madam Pomfry chided. Heather took a tentative sip and gagged at the bitterness. Cedric laughed at the face she made. Heather smacked him with the nearest things he could get hands on, a rather thick pamphlet on dragon pox.

"Now, now Mr. Diggory I'm going to have to ask you to leave if you don't behave, we don't want Miss Foxx getting too excited." Madam Pomfry scolded.

"Yes, I'm far to excited, now go!" Heather said as she pointed to the door. Madam Pomfry whapped her on the head and told her not to be rude before walking away to tend to a young Slytherin that had bright blue bubbles coming from her mouth when she tried to speak. Heather glared at her retreating figure before looking back at the glass. She held her nose and drank the vile liquid down as fast as she could. She was shuddering and coughing from the taste by the end of it. Cedric silently passed her a chocolate frog as she coughed and hacked, which she gratefully accepted it, willing to do anything to get rid of the horrid taste in her mouth.

"Thanks." Heather said once she had swallowed.

"Any time." He said.

She looked up and locked eyes with him. Why on earth was he in here anyway? Madam Pomfry had said that he had come in several times since she had entered the infirmary. He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off when Ryan entered the room.

"Hello my love, I heard that you were awake and I thought that I would bring some more of your homework so we could… Am I interrupting something?" She asked when she saw Cedric. He broke his intense eye contact with Heather and smiled at Ryan. "No, I just thought I'd drop by and see how she was doing. See you around Dennis." And with that he gathered his things and left the room.

Ryan's eyebrows were nearly invisible when she looked at Heather; they had risen so high that they almost reached her hair line. Heather wasn't sure why, but she felt as if she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. "What in the name of Merlin's pantyhose was that about?" Ryan asked. Heather opened her mouth to reply, but the truth was she really didn't have the slightest clue about how to answer the question.

"I dunno." She said lamely. Ryan looked at her skeptically but seemed to accept her answer. With Ryan's help Heather had completed her charms homework and was halfway through her transfiguration essay when Ryan asked Heather if she liked Cedric.

Heather went into a coughing fit so violent that Ryan had to hit her on the back several times before she regained composure.

"What on earth gave you that idea!" Heather demanded.

Ryan just shrugged and said it was just a thought. "A damn crazy thought! I think we should have your head examined before you leave." Heather said as she eyed her friend as though she had sprouted an extra head and named it Lola. At the end of visiting hours Ryan bade her friend good night and walked up to the dormitories with a small smile on her face. She wasn't quite sure what was going on between Heather and the Diggory boy, but she did know that this year was going to turn out to be very interesting to say the least.

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**I am **_**SO**_** incredibly sorry for the wait. I have no excuse. Really, I don't. I've had the past three weeks off and I've spent the majority of it recuperating from the last semester. I should have updated _AGES AGO. _****I'm sorry it took me so long to get this out, I have never had to work so hard in school in my life! On the bright side I did pull off the grades I wanted. Yea! Go me! My load for the winter term is much smaller so I shouldn't be away quite as long this go 'round. I typed this out a little fast so please forgive me any mistakes, I will go back and fix them later.**

**I'm not thrilled with the fight scene with the bjorndracorius (A monster of my own making) but it worked well enough I think.  
**

**Please review and I'll get the next one out as soon as I can.**

**-BellaCantante359**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter fifteen comin' up!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Harry Potter (even thought I like to secretly pretend that I do) All original characters are of my own making.**

**Chapter Fifteen: Freedom and Temper Tantrums.**

**----**

September passed into October while Heather was in the hospital wing. She did her homework to keep from dying of boredom and delighted in whatever visitor that came to see her, even Diggory to some extent. He had made it a habit of stopping by on his free period and after dinner. Another one of her more frequent visitors was Harry; it seemed that he was having a bit of a spat with Ron. In her opinion Ron was being a bit thick headed, but she also knew that the two would eventually work through it.

On the third day of her (conscious) stay she was determined to get out. Her side no longer hurt and she felt as fit as a fiddle.

"Can I go now?" She asked.

"I still think you should stay for a little longer dear." Madam Pomfry replied.

Heather Sighed and crossed her arms. She waited five minuets before asking again. "How about now?"

"Good grief child! I just told you!"

"I feel fine!" Heather said, and to prove her point she began to jump on the bed. "Can I go?" She asked as she bounced higher yet.

"Heavens! Get down! You're going to hurt yourself!" The old nurse fussed.

Heather rolled her eyes and jumped off the bed and onto the floor. "I feel fine… Argh!" She doubled over and clutched her middle. Madam Pomfry rushed forward and demanded to know what was the matter.

"… It's my side." Heather wheezed, still doubled over. "It's completely healed!" She said chipperly as she quickly straitened up and lifted her shirt to show off her tummy. The pink scar was shiny and new, but none the less, the wound had healed over nicely. "So can I go?" Heather asked again.

"YES! Fine! Go, Merlin knows that things will be quieter!" Madam Pomfry shouted, red faced from being tricked. Heather didn't need to be told twice; she grabbed the spare clothes she had asked Ryan to bring and quickly dressed.

Once she was out of the hospital wing she made it a point to go outside, it didn't matter how cold it was, she needed some fresh air. She shivered slightly as the chill from the October air settled around her. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath; she hadn't realized how much she missed the fresh air. She'd hated being cooped up in the hospital wing without being able to go anywhere to talk to anyone. Suddenly images of Cedric filled her mind as she thought back on the past few days, how he had stayed to chat with her long after visiting hours were permitted, and how he had helped her to sit up properly by adding an extra pillow. Her face colored at the images before quickly banishing the memories. _'Don't forget about the other visitors you had you ninny.'_

She frowned at her own thoughts as she turned to head indoors.

"What is the matter with you? Snap out of it already!" She scolded herself as she made her way down the hall.

'_**Don't you wonder what Cedric is doing?'**_ Her conscious prodded.

'_No, not in the slightest.'_ She quipped back as she rounded the corner and found herself in the library. She took a cursory look around as she entered to see if there was anyone interesting enough to talk to. There were several Ravenclaws at one of the tables to the far left, and a few third and fourth formers peppered about the room. She spied Hermione and quickened her pace to join the younger Gryffindor. She passed the brooding Viktor Krum and several twittering girls as she settled herself down at Hermione's table.

"E'llo poppet, what useless reference book do you have yourself so absorbed in on this fine afternoon?" She chirped as she slid the book out from under the other girl's nose.

"I was reading that!" Hermione protested. Heather ignored her as she flipped through the pages of the old tome. "Boring, boring, boring, boring, boring, boring. You really need to broaden your literary horizons my dear." Heather said as she closed the book and pushed it out of Hermione's reach. "Why don't you try reading one of those wicked romance novels that Lavender is so fond of?" Heather asked. Much to her amusement Hermione's face colored its self a lovely shade of pink, suggesting that the fourth former might have done just that at some point in time. Heather cackled with delight, earning her a dark look from Madam Prince.

"Well, I'm glad at least to see that you're feeling better." Hermione grumbled as she tried again to reach for the old book. Heather easily kept it out of her reach as she smiled at her friend. "I'm feeling fit as a fiddle, can't keep me down for long." She said with a grin. He grin vanished as she looked as her face took on a more serious expression. "What's going on with Harry and Ron?" She asked.

Hermione sighed and slumped back into the stiff chair having given up trying to resume her reading. "Those two are impossible; Ron is convinced that Harry put his own name in the Goblet to boost his popularity or something." Heather's temper flared to life as she thought of the bull headed Weasley. "If he thinks Harry put his name in that cup then he's gone completely barmy."

Heather felt a pang of sympathy for Harry as she thought about how he had looked in the past week. _'Poor kid must be desperate for company if he was willing to hang out with me in the hospital wing during breaks…'_

"I hate it when they fight like this," Hermione continued. "I've been trying to get them to make amends, but each time I mention the other's name they just tell me to send the other a rude message." The poor girl looked absolutely defeated.

Heather reached over and punched her shoulder lightly. "Don't worry about it, they've been friends since first year, they would have to have dragon dung for brains to completely forget about a friendship like that. Although some days I wonder…" Heather joked, earning a small laugh from Hermione and a dark look form the librarian. Out of the corner of her eye Heather noted that the dark Hungarian in the corner was sneaking surreptitious glances over at their table. She inwardly smirked and stretched signaling her departure. _'Well, well. It looks as if young Miss Granger has an admirer.' _She grinned at the young girl before bidding her good day. _'No sense in interrupting Krum's stalker session.'_ She thought merrily to herself as she left with library.

She was in overall good spirits as she walked about the castle when she spied a small group of students hovering around a box. Not wanting to miss out on any mischief she wandered over to investigate.

"Go on; take a few, there are plenty more where these came from!" Crowed a young Slytherin. Heather looked over the heads of the other students and peered into the contents of the large box.

"Where did you get these?" She demanded angrily as she snatched a one of the buttons from the box, upon contact with her hands the words _Cedric, the REAL Hogwarts champion_ melted away and formed into the words _Potter stinks_.

"What is the meaning of this!?" She demanded of the younger students, a few managed to look shamed, but the ringleader looked unabashed, smug even. She didn't wait long enough for a reply; she quickly picked up the box leaving the younger students protesting.

She was so mad she could have bitten a steel beam in half; she walked out into the courtyard and pushed past Professors McGonagall, Moody and the Headmaster, Dumbledore.

She slammed the box down on the lip of the pool and looked furiously into the water below, "Show me Cedric Diggory." She demanded as she wove her wand angrily in a complicated pattern. The water began to ripple and swirl before a hazy picture of Cedric appeared before her, he was out on the quidditch pitch with his team. She snatched the box back up and stormed past the professors in a blind fury.

"Did she just…?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"Aye, she did." Moody answered slowly.

"Scrying with natural elements is a highly complex skill, even the most competent wizards find it difficult." McGonagall stated after she had overcome her initial shock. Moody made a noise low in his throat in agreement; the young witch had more power to her than he initially thought. "Well one thing's for sure," the Head Master started, "I'd hate to be in young Mr. Diggory's shoes right now."

The sorry fool in question was going over some last minuet plays when he spied Heather coming out onto the pitch. He signaled for the end of practice and began his decent; he landed a few yards in front of her and smiled.

"Nice to see you out in the open again Foxx." He greeted. She quickly closed the distance between and threw the buttons at his feet.

"This is the vilest tactic that I have ever seen! Just when I was starting to think…. You said it wasn't Harry's fault!" She cried as she threw a handful of buttons at him as his team stared at them in shock. He had never seen her so upset before, she was breathing hard and the air around her seemed to crackle with electricity. Cedric looked down and picked up one of the pins she had hurled at him, curious, his teammates also picked up the round disks and snickered in delight as the words shifted to from _Potter Stinks._

"Heather I-"Cedric started, but he was abruptly cut off my a stern voice.

"Give it here."

McGonagall was quickly marching toward the group of teenagers with Dumbledore following at an unhurried pace. "Hand it over, now." She demanded. Reluctantly, one of the students relinquished the pin. She could see why the Foxx girl had gone into such a rage, she herself was fighting to keep her temper in check. "Who is responsible for this?" She asked, scrutinizing the young men and women before her.

"I swear I had nothing to do with it." Cedric said, "You have to believe me Foxx… Do you really think that I would do something like this?" He asked, more than a little hurt. She didn't answer; instead she opted to stare at the ground whilst she tried to regain control of her emotions.

"Miss Foxx will be dealt with for her actions, and Cedric, as Head Boy and a member of the tournament I want you to see to it that those pins are disposed of." The Head Master gently ordered. "Yes, Professor." Cedric said, never once taking his eyes off of Heather.

"It seems that we've just had a bit of a misapprehension." Dumbledore said. "All of you should go back to your dorms, it's getting chilly out. Not you Miss Foxx, I have some matters to discuss with you."

Heather's head snapped up at the sound of her name leaving the Headmaster's lips. She knew that her little temper tantrum would probably land her a lecture and a detention, but she was expecting McGonagall to be the one to decide her fate. She'd been in a lot of trouble over the years, but she'd never dealt with the head master directly.

'_Oh my God what have I done? I knew Cedric was golden in this school, but I didn't think the principal would get involved with something like this.'_

"It's not Heather's fault!" Cedric blurted out. "I probably would have done the same thing, and besides, these things are small so they didn't hurt when she threw them. Please, it was just a misunderstanding." He pleaded.

'_What the hell is that idiot doing?'_

'_**It looks as if he's defending you.'**_

'_I can see that you fool, what I meant was why?'_

"Please don't fret Mr. Diggory, I just need to have a small chat with Miss Foxx about commentating the next quidditch match is all." Heather's head once again snapped up to focus on the Headmaster, he had just told an obvious lie, anything regarding the quidditch team would have to be dealt with by either Madam Hooch or Professor McGonagall. Cedric didn't seem to accept the answer, but he knew better than to challenge the integrity of the Headmaster. Cedric gave Heather a final pleading glance before heading off to the castle. If ever there was a time she wished she could be walking to castle with him it was now.

"Now then Miss Foxx, why don't we head over to my office and have that chat." Dumbledore said with a cheery smile.

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**I know I know, another short chapter, but I had to end it somewhere right?**

**I don't know when I'll be able to get the next chapter posted so just bear with me for the time being, I promise that I'll get it up as soon as humanly possible.**

**Mucho love peoples.**

**-BellaCantante359**


	16. Chapter 16

**Sorry for the wait! I had a lot going on but here's the next chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not nor have I ever owned any of the Harry Potter plot. Original characters come from my own imagination.**

**Chapter Sixteen: Tea, cookies, and tight spaces.**

The Headmaster's office was clean and cluttered at the same time. Heather couldn't help but look around like a small first former that had just stepped into the castle. She was particularly amused by some sort of gizmo that would blow small puffs of green smoke in the air every twenty-five seconds. Even though she would have loved to spend more time poking about the Headmaster's office she forced herself to stay seated in the chair opposite the giant oak desk.

Heather squirmed in her seat as the various instruments whirled and buzz around her. Dumbledore had stepped out momentarily to converse with Professors Moody and McGonagall about something, the last thing she needed was for him to come back in and catch her exploring his office. She almost jumped out of her own skin when she heard the heavy wooden doors open to reveal the Headmaster.

'_He couldn't kick me out… Not for chucking a pin at Diggory right?'_

'_**Actually it was a whole box of pins…'**_

"I'm sorry!" She blurted out. And she was sorry, she felt like a fool for jumping to conclusions about Cedric, she may not have been overly fond of him, but she did know that as far as his integrity went he wasn't the kind of person to stoop to silly and slanderous attacks such as the buttons. "When I saw his name on the pins… I- I should have known he wasn't the one that started it."

'_But so help me, as soon as I find out who charmed those stupid pins…'_

"It's an honest mistake, I'm afraid that in these situations it is quite easy to jump to conclusions." The Headmaster agreed.

"…So, you're not gonna kick me out or anything?" Heather asked uneasily. Dumbledore smiled good naturedly and extended a tin out towards her. "Biscuit?" She eyed the cookie tin warily before accepting one; Dumbledore smiled and placed the tin back on his desk. "They're rather tasty, I'm afraid that I have a bit of a sweet tooth." He said as he withdrew a biscuit for himself.

'_Okay, so if he's not going to kick me out what am I still doing here?_

"Erm, I'm sorry professor, but if you're not going to give me detention, then why am I still here? I could be wrong, but I don't think that you brought me here for cookies and small talk." Heather said pointedly. The Headmaster smiled and finished the last of his macaroon. "I've brought you here to discuss your powers involving divining, that stunt you pulled in the courtyard was rather impressive for a seventeen year old young lady." He said.

'_Oooooooooooooh Boy…. I didn't realize he saw me.'_

'_**Well duh, who do you think you pushed out of the way in your blind fury?'**_

'_!!!!!!'_

"I am _**so**_ sorry! I'll never do it again!" She all but shouted in a panic, scrying with elements was a talent that could be achieved by few, and was often feared, for when scrying with elements one could view anyone at any given moment. To say the least it wasn't the sort of thing that one would advertise. _'At least in a public place where I can get caught…' _Heather thought to herself and imagined the months of detention she would most likely be serving.

"I'm not upset with you my dear, but I have to say that I am rather curious as to how you came to learn such a skill? If I recall correctly Professor Trelawney does not cover elemental scrying in her lesson plan."

Heather squirmed in her seat and avoided looking at the head master. "My mum could do it, she taught me how when I was little. She was talented as a seer, that's how she managed to provide for me so well up until…." She couldn't finish, even though her mum had passed away long ago it was still painful to talk about.

The Headmaster nodded and placed his hands in a steeple before tapping them against his lips. He was quiet for a moment as he pondered over something before lowering his hands and smiling at Heather. "I do not think that you use this particular skill of yours often, therefore I do not think that you abuse this talent. I do however; want you to spend some time honing your particular skill in order to protect yourself."

Heather mentally groaned. _'Great, more school work…'_ "Professor, with the N.E.W.T.S. coming up, I'm not going to have much time for anything else." Heather protested. "Well perhaps you could spend two hours a week on Friday's with your instructor, the day is shortened, and therefore allowing some time for your studies."

Heather was about to argue further, but the twinkling eyes and enigmatic smile present on the Headmaster's face caused her to drop her argument. "Fine, but not two hours. Thirty minuets." She stated.

"An hour and a half." The Headmaster countered.

'One hour." She finished.

"Deal." The Headmaster said as he reached across his desk to shake her hand as if to seal the deal. Heather reluctantly took Dumbledore's hand. She sighed and asked, "So what time on Friday's should Professor Trelawney be expecting me?" "Oh no dear, I'm afraid that Professor Trelawney is not well enough equipped to help you in this particular area." "Then who…?" She started to ask, but she was abruptly cut off when Dumbledore said "You can come in now Alaster."

'_Moody!?'_

"Professor Moody is going to be overseeing your tutelage in this matter. I feel that because of you're hidden talent that the Dark Lord Voldermort may take an unwanted interest in you." Heather gave an involuntary shudder upon hearing _his_ name said out loud.

"With the help of Professor Moody you will learn how to effectively protect your mind and body from unwanted attacks." "But I'm already learning that in DADA anyway, and not to sound conceited or anything, but we're covering as much as most beginning aurors in the advanced course. And what on earth would the dark lord want with me?" She asked.

The Headmaster and Moody looked at each other for a full minuet, having some kind of wordless communication between themselves. Dumbledore sighed and opened one of the many draws from his large desk; from it he withdrew a piece of parchment. "This arrived for you the other day, from your father." Dumbledore said as he placed the letter down on the desk in front of Heather. She stiffened at the sight of the familiar script in front of her, but she obediently leaned over the letter and skimmed the contents while Dumbledore continued to talk.

"It seems as if your father has some rather high expectations for you." Heather clutched the ends of her skirt tight as she continued to read. It appeared as if her father was coming to collect her at the end of the year in order to introduce her into a more "powerful" society. "A skill like yours would be supremely beneficial for the Dark Lord to have, not to mention your skill with a wand." Moody added.

When she finished reading she was fighting the blind panic that was threatening to overtake her. "I won't do it." She stated bravely, as she tried to swallow past the lump that had suddenly appeared in her throat. "Why isn't this letter in the hands of someone at the ministry?" She asked; the letter was full of content alluding to the death eaters, and dark magic.

"I am afraid that the ministry is not the same as it once was." Dumbledore said wistfully. Heather wanted to inquire further, but decided against it. "Your lessons will start this coming Friday; I expect that you will give Professor Moody and your lessons your undivided attention." The Headmaster said in a businesslike tone, signaling the end of their little pow-wow. "Yes Headmaster." Heather said as she got up from her seat and walked out the door.

As she began the climb up the revolving stairs from the Headmaster's office she allowed herself the privilege of losing herself in her thoughts. Even if she was clever with a wand why would the Dark Lord want her? He had to have heard something of her from her father. Her lack of obedience when it came to authority figures was something her father was notorious for bringing up. And what exactly was he planning for her? Before she left her old home she'd spent countless hours amongst her father's 'friends', so why would he want to 'introduce' her to people she'd already seen?

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't pay any attention to Cedric as he hurried to fall into step with her. "Is everything alright? What did he say?" He asked. She quickly forgot about her anxiousness as it was quickly replaced with a familiar irritation and an even more unsettling fondness. "We had tea and biscuits." She answered in a clipped tone.

"That's totally unjustified, I'll do everything in my power to get you out of detentio- Did you say you had tea and biscuits?" He asked confusedly. She smiled at his heated protest of her would be detention. "Bit slow aren't you? Yes, he gave me cookies and we talked about… Stuff." She said.

"Stuff? What kind of stuff?" He asked as they rounded the corner towards the moving staircases. "Just stuff alright." She snapped. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry." He said as he noted the defensive note in her voice, obviously it was a touchy subject that she wasn't ready to share. "But you're not in trouble right?" He questioned. "Nope." She answered with an exaggerated pop on the last syllable.

They got off the staircase and were walking the final way to their common rooms when they heard footsteps. "Cripes!" Heather said as she pulled Diggory into the hidden space behind the tapestry of marshal the malevolent. It was a tight fit, but they had successfully hidden themselves just as the steps rounded the corner. "Who is it?" Cedric whispered as he peeked through a crack between the wall and the giant rug. The footsteps continued, but there was no body to be making them.

'_Harry?'_

'_**Bingo.'**_

"Dunno." She lied. It was then she noticed that she had pressed herself against Cedric's chest in order to hide the both of them completely. She could feel the quickening of his heartbeat beneath her right palm and she was suddenly hyper aware of his arm encircling her waist. She looked up and saw he was tensely watching through the crack in the tapestry, his jaw was set and his eyes were shining bright. She was thankful for the lack of light behind the thick tapestry for it hid the blush that had crept across her face.

They stayed posed like that for a moment after the sound of the footsteps had dissipated. Cedric let out a breath that he was holding and relaxed his hold on Heather. "It was probably one of the Ghosts." Cedric said. Heather nodded her head thankful he hadn't noticed the old trainers that had peaked out from the bottom of the cloak or the heat emanating from her face for that matter. She cleared her voice and said, "I think it's safe now."

Cedric looked down at her and noticed for the first time just how close they were. She was mildly surprised to see his own skin flush as he let his arm fall away from her waist. "Right then, I think we should get back to our rooms before whoever that was decides to come back." Heather nodded in agreement and stepped out into the hallway.

Cedric passed his common room and walked Heather the rest of the way to the fat lady's portrait. "Er, thanks. Night then." She said awkwardly before she crawled up into the passageway. She heard a muffled "Good night." as the portrait door swung shut.

The common room was mostly empty save for a few students that were so busy in their homework to notice everyone had retreated to bed. Heather walked over to one of the overstuffed chairs in front of the fire and there she waited for Harry. She wasn't sure where exactly he had gone or what he was up to, but the boy had a knack for putting clues together for a mystery that put him in danger. What was more is she couldn't believe that he had almost allowed himself to be seen.

"Stupid git, what are you thinking?" She muttered as she settled in to wait, but what she couldn't quite discern was whether she was talking to herself or about Harry….

**That's all for now my lovelys, T'is late and I have to get up early in the morning.**

Don't forget to review or I won't post!!!

**I promise!**

**I'll hold out on you!**

**That is all.**

**Bella Cantante**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I do not nor have I ever owned any of the Harry Potter plot. Original characters come from my own imagination.**

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**Chapter Seventeen: The First Task Becomes Known**

Heather's Head dipped into her chest for what must have been the millionth time. Her eyelids felt so heavy, all she wanted to do was to crawl up to the dormitory steps into her nice warm bed. She'd been waiting for Harry for almost two hours, it was well past two and she was exhausted. She was just starting to get up to go to bed figuring she would corner Harry in the morning when she heard the whoosh of the portrait door swing open.

She settled herself back down into the shadow of the fire in time to see Harry yank off the cloak. He gave a frustrated sigh and glared up towards the boys dormitories. "Enjoy your late night stroll?" Heather asked. Harry jumped slightly, but relaxed a little when he saw it was only her sitting in one of the old arm chairs.

"No, not really." He answered as he flopped himself into the chair opposite hers. Heather frowned and leaned over and put a reassuring hand on Harry's knee. "Hey, come on, buck up a bit yeah? It can't be all that bad, I've got extra study sessions to add on to my normal classes and detentions so you have nothing to mope about." She said giving his knee a little squeeze. He gave a humorless laugh and stared into the dying embers of the fire.

"…So… Are you going to tell me what you were doing out so late?" She prodded.

"Dragons." He said.

"Err… That's nice and all, but if your sex life is that extreme maybe I'm happier not knowing."

He laughed a little at this and shook his head. "No, dragons are the first task." He reaffirmed before he frowned again.

Heather's blood ran cold. It was almost hopeless. How was he, a fourteen year old kid going to face and defeat a dragon? "Oh sweet Merlin… Harry..." She could feel the fear clutching at her chest as she thought of him having to battle a dragon. "How did you find out?" She asked eventually.

"Hagrid told me." He sighed, his faced then turned bitter. "Charlie's brought them down." He spat. "Ron knew. He bloody saw them today and he didn't tell me!" His glass green eyes were shining bright with rage and betrayal.

"Harry…. I'm sure Ron would have told you something…" Heather tried to sooth. Harry just snorted and looked back into the fireplace. "A real friend would have told me something instead of letting me walk into the match blind while I get charred to a crisp." "But you did get a heads up, and that's all that matters." Heather quickly interjected before Harry could work himself up any further.

Harry sighed again and leaned back into the chair. "The other headmasters know about the dragons too." Harry said absentmindedly. "Kakeroff and Madam Maxine saw them too…" "So they'll end up telling their champions." She finished. Harry nodded and swallowed. "Well, at least you won't feel bad for being the only cheater." She tried to joke. He wasn't laughing.

'_But what about Cedric? He still has no clue about what the first task holds for him.'_

"Harry…. What about Diggory?" She asked tentatively. Harry took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "He doesn't have the slightest idea." He said. "Oh…" She was confused by another spasm of fear that shot through her chest. Cedric had no clue whereas the others will have had time to prepare for the first task.

'_What if he gets hurt?'_

Heather opened and closed her mouth a few times trying to speak. When she finally got the words out she felt like they were hanging in the air.

"You will tell him right?"

Harry said nothing; he just watched the last of the embers fade into ash.

"…. Harry?"

"I'll tell him." He said as he placed his glasses back on his face. The tightness in her chest subsided a little and she got up. "We should head up to bed, it's been a long night…" She said. Harry didn't respond, he only stared at the ash and embers in the fireplace.

She bade him good night and when she received no response she sighed and started to climb the stairs leading to her dorm. She entered her room and listened to the steady breathing of her roommates. She gently padded across the room and got into bed fully dressed. She pulled the covers up to her chin like she used to when she was a little girl and closed her eyes tight.

"Please…." She started. "Please let them come out of this task alive." She whispered to no one before she fell into sleep.

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**********So before you begin to scold me for being away for so long please allow me to explain. My laptop crashed (again) and I lost ALL of my files. All of them. Gone. Poof. History. As in "no longer exists". Needless to say I've been quite frazzled. I've had to start all over from scratch. Furthermore a computer fix-it group that shall remain nameless, ** LOST my lap top. (Wth?) So I haven't been neglecting you on purpose.**

******************Anywho I've just graduated with my AS in Mathematics (yeah!) and I'm taking the summer off so hopefully I'll have some time to re-outline what I had planned for future chapters. I know this chapter is a bit short (okay, really short)****, but it just felt like the right place to end it.**

**Please review and I'll have chapter eighteen out to you as soon as humanly possible.**

**BellaCantante**


	18. Chapter 18

**Here it is, enjoy my friends!**

**Disclaimer: I do not nor have I ever owned any part of the Harry Potter plot, all credit is due to J. K. Rowling. Original characters and situations however, come from my own imagination.**

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**Chapter Eighteen: A late night duel and a snack**

Heather's normally cheerful disposition had made a sudden turn for the worse on the day of her assigned tutoring session with Professor Moody. Ryan kicked her under the dinner table and threw her a pointed look. Heather smiled at her and returned her attention to her potatoes.

'_Perhaps it's best if Ryan didn't know about this for right now, I don't want her to worry.'_

Speaking or worrying, Heather looked over and found Harry pushing food around his plate. She sighed and wished there were something she could do to make him feel better. He looked up and caught her gaze. She made a face at him in an attempt to cheer him a bit. He laughed a little and smiled. She grinned back. Something behind her caught Harry's eye and his face fell. Heather looked behind her and spied Cedric heading out of the great hall. She looked back at Harry and he gave her a small nod before following the other Hogwarts champion out the door.

'_He's a good kid.'_ She thought.

When everyone was headed up to the dorms to their nice, soft comfy beds, Heather announced that she was instead going to go to the library under pretext of working on a rather dull essay for professor Snape on the theoretical long life potion. She bade her comrades' fare well and watched the lucky twits head off to bed.

She sighed and gathered her things and headed up to Moody's office. Try and dawdle as she might, Heather still managed to find herself at the assigned place at the assigned time. She sighed and hitched her back up higher on her shoulder when the door to Moody's office became visible. She stood in front of the door, not really wanting to go in. She wondered what would happen if she just decided to duck out, it's not liked there would be any huge outcry, would there? She raised her fist to rap smartly on the door when a gruff voice called, "Come in." before she had even tapped the wooden door.

"Stupid bloody eye…" She muttered as she turned the knob and let herself in.

Moody's office was a jumble of ordered chaos. He had a number of rather interesting dark detecting gizmos whirling around blithely, books and papers strewn around desk where he was seated grading papers, a large full length mirror with a nasty crack in it, and a large trunk with several different sized locks. The formerly mentioned object gave a great shudder. "You scored very well on your last exam." He commented.

"I- Er.. Thanks?" She said rather awkwardly, not really sure what to do with herself.

"Sit." Moody ordered, motioning with his quill to a three legged stool by the window, barely visible underneath all of the scattered objects. Heather took her seat on the stool and tried her best not to fidget. The only sounds in the room were the whirring of Moody's gadgets and the scratching noises coming from Moody's quill as he marked up some poor fool's paper.

One minuet passed.

Three Minuets…

Wasn't she here to do something? She had better things to do than sit like a gargoyle in Moody's office. She sighed, if she was going to be stuck here for an hour she was either going to be doing magic, or she was going to annoy someone. She cleared her throat. "Umm, sir? As amusing as I find it to watch you mark up Roger's paper, I fail to see how this is you teaching me anything." She said pointedly. Moody's quill stopped on the parchment mid-scratch. Heather gulped; perhaps Moody wasn't someone she wanted to annoy.

Moody stood up abruptly, knocking over the desk and unfastened his cloak. "Defend yourself!" He cried before firing a curse right at Heather's head. Heather yelped and dove off of the stool and took cover. "Are you barking MAD!" She shouted at him. The only response she received was a maniacal cackle from Moody. "What am I saying, of course he's mad." She muttered.

"Come on out and fight me lassie!" He taunted.

"Are you kidding me?" She said from behind the bureau she had taken refuge behind. "You're a trained killer, I'm just another bubble headed student!" she protested. Moody cackled again and fired another hex at her, driving her out of her hiding place. Heather shot a jelly legs jinx at him from over her shoulder as she darted out and hid behind Moody's overturned desk. She heard him stumble as she jumped over the desk and crouched down low. She peeked over the side and fired.

"Think think think think think think think think!" She ordered herself as she fired another curse at the crazy old codger. She hissed in pain as a stinging hex hit her on her left arm. "Come on out lassie. Let's finish this." Moody said. Heather risked another look around her shelter; Moody was standing by the giant cracked mirror, the shadowy shapes drifting back and forth behind the glass.

"Fight!" He growled, firing another curse at her. The wood of her hideout was beginning to chip. She needed a plan fast. She did a mental recon of the layout of the area and recalled that Moody was standing in front of the mirror, angled just South East from the window. _'That's it!'_ She thought. She fired several curses at Moody in rapid succession to distract him while she levitated her shoulder bag over to her. The crash of several objects and a curse from Moody told her that she'd succeeded. She dug furiously though her bag for the small pocket mirror she sometimes used to check her face between classes.

"Give it up lass, I've got you cornered." Moody said.

"I think not." She mumbled to herself as she leveled her wand at the small compact. "Stupefy!" she cried. The spell ricocheted off of her small hand mirror, blowing it to bits as it bounced off of the window to the mirror, which in turn rebounded once again off of the smooth glass surface to hit Moody square between the shoulders. She heard him groan and go down. _'Now!' _she thought as she sprang up and aimed her wand at Moody's crumpled form. "Petrificus totalus!" Moody's body stiffened on the floor. Heather conjured up several thick ropes and tied the mad man up.

When she was sure the knots were double and triple knotted, she walked over to the wall to where the alarm was. "Wait lass, don't-" Moody called. "Shut up you!" she spat. She performed the langlock charm on him and pulled the leaver down. Moody groaned and closed his eyes. Seconds later help arrived in the form of Professor McGonagall, Dumbledore, and Cedric.

"What on Earth!" McGonagall exclaimed.

"He attacked me!" Heather stammered, pointing to the tied up figure on the floor. The professors rushed forward and bent down to the struggling figure. "I was all like 'Professor, am I going to watch you grading papers all night?' and he was all like 'DEFEND YOURSELF LASSIE!' and he started attacking me!"

"Is that true professor Moody?" McGonagall asked after she had loosened his tongue and helped him stand up. "It's part of your training you ninny, now get these boggin' ropes offa me!" He grunted.

"Huh?" was Heather's only reply.

"I wanted t'see how you could defend yourself in a fight, now turn me loose!" He shouted. Heather looked at the other three faces in the room. McGonagall looked utterly horrified as she chastised the pair of them for behaving so rashly, Dumbledore remained in the same spot, smiling as if the situation were very amusing. Cedric on the other hand looked as if her were going to crack a rib in his effort to keep from laughing out loud.

"Huh?" Heather said again.

"Heavens child, were you in the royal navy?" McGonagall asked. "Undo these bindings at once." She said.

"Oh, uhh, sure." Heather flicked her wand and Moody fell to the floor rather unceremoniously.

Cedric coughed, not even trying to disguise the laughter behind it. Heather bristled. "And what may I ask are you doing here?" She snapped. "I was patrolling the floor below when I heard the alarm sound so I came to investigate, but seeing as it's only a false alarm I guess I'll just be heading back to my duties then." He said, wicked amusement shining plainly in his grey eyes. He gave Heather a wink and turned to leave.

"Just a moment Mr. Diggory," Dumbledore said. "Professor?" He asked. "I would appreciate it if the details of this little mishap did not get out to the general public. You see, Miss Foxx was merely supposed to be attending a private tutorial this evening, not a duel."

"Yes Professor." Cedric answered, trying again not to laugh.

"That's a good lad, now why don't you escort Miss Foxx back to her dormitory; I believe she's had enough excitement for one night." The professor said, the ever present twinkle in his eye was sparking overtime.

Heather and Cedric left Moody's office in silence. Cedric waited until they were out of earshot to finally laugh. And boy did he laugh.

"Shut up! It's not funny!" Heather said fuming.

"Oh yes... it is," Cedric Said between gales of laughter, "You should have seen the look on his face when we came in." He said, laughing harder yet. Heather cracked a small smile. "I suppose he did look rather silly tied up like that." She allowed, laughing a little. When Cedric's guffaws had relapsed into giggles Heather went down the staircase to the left as Cedric paused to take the staircase to the right. "And where are we going?" He asked.

"_I'm_ going to the kitchens to get something to eat. _You _can go off and do head boy stuff." She said, descending the stairs. Cedric grinned. "And what if my _head boy stuff_ entailed catching students wandering around the castle at night?" He called after her. Heather paused in her downward trek and closed her eyes groaning. _'Curses! He's done it again!'_ She gave a weak shake of her head and called over her shoulder as she continued down the stairs, "Then I suppose you should duck out of your head boy duties and come down for a late night snack."

Cedric grinned and followed the strange girl down the stairs. When they reached the kitchens Heather was surprised when it was Cedric that reached out and tickled the pear. He smiled at her shock. "Oh don't look so stunned, I wasn't always a prefect you know." He said and climbed inside the entrance. Heather grinned and followed the Hufflepuff inside. _'He may turn out to be a kindred spirit yet.'_

Heather was delighted when the houselves ushered them inside, the hundreds of little squeaking figures showed the pair to a small wooden table and began filling it with all kinds of edible delights. Heather grinned at Cedric over the mountain of food. Cedric smiled at her over his sandwich and took a bite. "So," Heather said in an attempt at small talk. "The fist task is coming up. Any ideas?" She asked, dipping her strawberry into some cream. Cedric swallowed slowly and put his sandwich down. "Yeah," He said. "Harry found out and told me what the first task is." He said quietly. "Oh?" Heather said, taking a bite of the red fruit.

"Dragons." He whispered. Heather felt her chest tighten again. "Dragons?" She repeated, as if it were news to her. Cedric nodded looking a little green. "I don't know what I was thinking putting my name in that cup. How am I going to defeat a dragon?" He mused. "Oh buck up. You'll think of something. You're not the Hogwarts golden boy for nothing you know." She said. He shook his head and sighed. "I can't believe that in less than two weeks form now I'll be staring a dragon in the snout." He said glumly.

"Well good heavens lad! I should hope you wouldn't let the bugger get that close!" Heather exclaimed. He laughed and picked up his sandwich again. "You're right, I wouldn't make much of a seeker for my team if I came back burnt to a crisp."

"I hate to break it to you mate, but you weren't much of a seeker to begin with. As I recall Gryffindor creamed you guys in the last match." She said. Cedric threw a grape at her in response. "You're going to regret that Diggory." She said, grabbing a handful of spaghetti.

It didn't take long for the food fight to escalate, in the span of a few moments the houselves were shrieking about the state of their kitchen and Heather and Cedric were both covered in food.

"Why is it when ever I hang out with you I end up dirty?" Cedric laughed, he dipped his finger in the glob of whipped cream on his robes and sucked it clean.

"Just a hazard of my friendship I guess." She answered as she performed a quick cleaning spell on the both of them and began to put the kitchen back in order.

"So, we're friends now?" Cedric asked carefully.

Heather paused for a moment to concider it. Yes, she supposed they were friends now. Once you got passed the squeaky clean reputation Cedric wasn't as utterly detestable as he had once been. "Yeah, I guess it does." She allowed. "Cool." Was his only answer. He helped her clean up and apologize a million times over the head elf who personally escorted them out of the kitchens.

"Well, I don't suppose I'll be able to get back in there anytime soon." She said when the portrait slammed closed. "Come on, it's late. We should get going if we're going to make it to Sinestra's class on time." Heather groaned and followed him up to the astronomy tower.

After class, they walked down to their dorms in a companionable silence, the first they had ever had. In the past, Heather had always felt the need to fill the silence with chatter to break the awkwardness, but now that they'd found themselves in several awkward scrapes together, the awkwardness of silence was nothing compared to hunting wild mushrooms and picking spaghetti out of their hair.

"Well, I suppose this is goodnight then." He said.

"Yes. Or good morning, depending on how you look at your watch." She said, erasing the last bit of tension between them. He laughed and wished her a good morning before turning and walking back to his dorm.

"Cedric," She called after him. He stopped and looked back. She shifted her feet and didn't quite meet his gaze. "I know you'll do great on the first task," She said. A rosy tint colored her cheeks, barely visible in the dark corridor.

Cedric's face split into a smile. This was the first nice thing she'd voluntarily said to him. He looked at her embarrassed body language and felt the need to sooth the awkward moment.

"Aww. Thanks best friend, that really means a lot." He said. His amusement grew as indignation replaced the fetching blush on Heather's face. He laughed quietly to himself as he continued down to his rooms. Heather was an interesting girl. She had spunk, and that spunk gave him courage. Cedric had secretly been very pleased when she'd called him a friend. With her cheering him on, Cedric felt as if he _could_ end up facing the dragon, and even winning the tournament. With her cheering him on, Cedric felt as if he could take on the world.

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**Again, sorry for the shortness, I've been really strapped lately.**

**Please review and I'll post again when I can.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Here it is my friends, the first task!**

**Disclaimer: I do not nor have I ever owned any part of the Harry Potter plot, all credit is due to J. K. Rowling. Original characters and situations however, come from my own imagination.**

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**Chapter Nineteen: In which our hero nearly dies, and out heroine nearly dies of embarrassment. **

October passed by in a blur. By now the students had fallen into their routine comfortably, the one exception being Heather. She just couldn't seem to get anywhere on time except for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and of course the occasional late night snack with a certain Hogwarts heartthrob.

"That will be two points from Gryffindor for being late AGAIN to my class." Professor Flitwick squeaked.

"Oh come on Professor! I was just a teensy bit late this time; I got caught by the moving staircases." She pleaded. Today alone she'd lost three points for being tardy for transfiguration, and she'd lost another five for _accidentally_ turning Mrs. Norris blue. "You should have left earlier," The professor sniffed. "You know the stair cases move on a schedule."

"Yes Professor," She said, trying her best to look abashed. "But the reason I missed the change was because I was caught up practicing the cornatulus charm you taught us yesterday." She pulled out her wand and demonstrated said charm, causing the professor's own quill to sprout legs and do the can-can.

"My word!" The tiny professor cried. "That's very good Miss Foxx. But how is it that you got it to accompany itself on the accordion? An added Porcantunis charm perhaps?" He asked as he watched the feather bob merrily up and down his palm. Heather nodded, sensing she was almost off the hook.

"I was in the library trying to multiply them so I could have a whole can-can line when I lost track of time, do you think you could show me how to do that?" She asked eagerly.

"Yes, yes." The professor said. "And take three points for Gryffindor, this is superb!"

"Yes professor." Heather said as she took her seat next to Ryan. Ryan looked at her friend in astonishment. "How do you _do_ that?" She asked, utterly bewildered at her pal's talent for getting herself in and out of a scrape so quickly. Heather shot Ryan a self satisfied and rather large grin as she took out her supplies to take notes. Cedric smiled and shook his head from behind her. As tiresome as her instructors found her, they all liked her. Even professor Snape to a miniscule extent found her interesting, though he would never admit to it.

It was in the former professor's class that Cedric and Heather were bent over their cauldron brewing a bone regenerating concoction. Snape peered into the gently steaming cauldron and arched an eyebrow. "Miss Foxx, Exactly how many frogs' tongues did you put in?" He drawled. "Four and a half sir." She answered.

"Did you now? That is odd because I distinctly recall the directions asking for three frog's tongues, and _only_ three." He said.

"It does," She answered. "But by adding another tongue and a half the brew comes along faster and ensures a richer substance."

"And what about the butterfly wings?" He countered.

"I put in one less and added powdered thistle dust to avoid an explosion, sir." Snape looked down the length of his nose, a rather long gaze, and hmmmed low in his throat before walking away.

Cedric let out the breath he'd been holding. He had learned at the beginning of the term to just shut up and let Heather do most of the work when it came to potion making, she clearly knew what she was doing. Although there were times when he questioned her sanity when she would add in a mishmash of extra ingredients, causing the brew to go through a number of hideous transformations before coming to the correct end result.

"For a moment there I thought he was going to reprimand you for going against the book again." Cedric said as he began to clear away their station. "Nah." She said as she finished filling up a glass phial and neatly printed their names along the side. "Snape may be a grouch, but he's still a potions master. There are a hundred different ways to brew a potion, it doesn't matter how one does it, just as long as the end result is correct or superior to what it should be."

Since Heather had finally chosen to accept Cedric's offering of friendship, the conversation between the two had managed to flow effortlessly. Cedric found that Heather had an intense and deep side to her normally chipper nature, and Heather in turn found that she rather liked Diggory's brand of humor.

"So," She said, dusting her hands off. "The first task is coming round." Cedric nodded. "Two more days." He said, looking a little pale, but otherwise very much himself.

"You'll do a bang up job, I'm sure. Better than Frenchie over there in any case." They both turned and watched the girl fret over her cauldron, which was steaming blue rather than expected green at this point. They both laughed a little.

Heather was sure that Cedric would come out alright, the cup had chosen Cedric for a reason. There had been at least a hundred other names to choose from inside that stupid cup, if he weren't up to snuff then the cup would have just passed him by. Her brow then creased, but what about Harry? It was still a mystery as to exactly how his name had gotten into the cup in the first place. She felt the fearful squeeze in her chest again and banished the thought from her mind. What was done was done, Harry was competing, and that was that. All he had to do was not get himself mangled.

The day of the fist task rolled around and the school was a buzz with excitement. All of the students were eagerly trouping down to the site where the first task would take place. Heather and Ryan were gaily bounding down to the site when Heather spied the champion's tent. "Go on ahead without me; I want to wish Harry luck." She called after her friend. Ryan nodded and said that she would save Heather a good seat.

Heather crept around the tent trying not to be seen. When she had reached her destination she pulled back one of the flaps and peaked inside. The champions looked rather nervous. The French girl was perched on top of a wooden stool and looked positively gray, and Krum was scowling at the floor. Heather briefly wondered if his face would crack or not if he ever smiled before she searched for the other two remaining champions. Cedric was nervously pacing back and forth and Harry was no where to be found. Heather's panic was short lived because not a moment later did Harry enter the tent.

Bagman called a cheerful greeting out to Harry and proceeded to tell the contestants about the task.

"When the audience has assembled, I'm going to be offering each of you this bag," He said, lifting up a small burlap sack that was wriggling. "from which you will pull out the thing you are about to face. There are a few different uh, varieties. You're task is to collect the golden egg!" If possible each of the contestants paled even further.

"Ladies first." Bagman chirped as he offered the sac to the French girl. She dipped her hand into the bag and withdrew a small wriggling creature. Upon closer inspection Heather saw that it was an animated replica of a dragon with a small number two fix around its neck.

"Ah, yes, the Welsh Green. You will be going Second Miss Delacour." He said.

Next he offered the bag to Krum, who it turned out, was to enter the ring third.

Cedric put his shaking hand in the sac and pulled out a Swedish Short-snout, the numeral for one hung around it's slender neck.

Finally Harry pulled out a rather nasty looking dragon figurine. "You will be appearing in the ring according to the number around your dragon's neck. I want to wish all of you luck! Harry, could I speak with you for a second?" Bagman said. Heather watched as Harry followed Ludo out of the tent.

"What do you think you are doing 'er?" the French Girl snapped. Heather startled and tumbled headfirst into the tent.

"Foxx?" Cedric came forward and helped her to her feet. "I just wanted to wish you guys luck." She said, brushing herself off.

"No one else is supposed to be back here." He said. She grinned up at him. "And when exactly has that ever stopped me?" Cedric shook his head and smiled. He was secretly glad she had shown up, he was so nervous he was afraid that he might throw up. Heather peeked at the small dragon in his hands and swallowed a giant lump. "D'you reckon it'll be this size in the ring?" she asked. The small figure huffed a small fire ball at her in response. The both gave a nervous laugh.

Heather looked up into his eyes. "Are you scared?" She asked.

"Spit less." He answered.

She offered him a small smile. The poor lad really did look rather shaken.

"Listen," She said. "I- Umm, good luck out there, don't get your self killed or anything. If you do then I'm going to be stuck with Angus Flint for a potions partner." Cedric laughed. "I'll do my best." He said. Then the whistle sounded. "You should go." He said. A strained edge had crept into his voice.

Heather nodded. She turned to go, then in a snap decision, she turned around and hugged Cedric. Tightly.

"Be careful." She whispered, and quickly left the stunned boy behind.

She hurried down the field and hunted for Ryan as she cursed herself for her impulsiveness. What had come over her? She finally spied Ryan seated next to the Weasley's and Hermione. Heather had just reached them just as Bagman was finishing up the announcements. Heather watched anxiously as the Swedish Short-snout huffed a giant blast of flame into the air. She wrung her scarf in her hands, knowing that was Cedric's dragon.

"And now ladies and gentlemen, your first champion… Representing Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…. CEDRIC DIGGORY!"

The stands cheered as Cedric entered the arena. Heather leaned forward a little in her seat. She watched the awe on his face as he stared at the giant beast in front of him. The giant dragon eyed him warily. Cedric took a tentative song step forward. That one tiny movement caused the beast to roar and spit fire at the Hufflepuff boy. Cedric tried to dive to the left to avoid being scorched, but he was too late.

"NO!" Heather shouted as the audience gasped. She went to stand up from her seat, but Fred's hand on her arm kept her rooted to the spot. Cedric had caught part of the flam on the side of his face. He howled in pain and rolled to the side.

"Please get up, please get up, please get up, Oh _please_ get up." She half chanted half begged over and over.

He moved.

She breathed again.

Cedric slowly got to his feet and edged away from the nest. He performed the flame freezing charm on himself quickly, the same charm that had saved them from the Bjorndracorius. "Good lad." She said.

It wouldn't save him from being eaten, but at least he wouldn't suffer anymore burns. Heather Cringed as she got a better look at his face, it was an angry mass of charred flesh across half of his face. Cedric again tried to get closer to the animal. The beast snapped at him as he got closer, its wicked looking mouth grazing the back of Cedric's smoking robe.

"Oh, I can't watch…" She said, burying her head into Fred's shoulder.

After five agonizing minuets Cedric transfigured a nearby rock into a large sandy colored dog.

"Figure's he'd turn it into a golden retriever huh Heather." Ryan said, elbowing her friend with weak humor. Heather didn't laugh, instead she held her breath and watched as the dragon took the bait after a beat. Cedric ran forward and snatched up the golden egg and darted away. When the dragon had realized what he had done it roared with rage and sprang to attack. Cedric was just out of reach when the thick chair around the dragon's neck yanked it back.

He was safe.

Heather could have feinted from relief. She watched as the judges scored Cedric, and he was led away by the medic.

Next the prissy French twit went. She performed the same flame freezing charm that Cedric did after her skirt had caught fire. After about fifteen minutes she did this weird thing with her wand where she tried to hypnotize her dragon. It seemed to be working because the beast was starting to doze and snore. She was close enough to reach for the egg when the beast came out of the trance. It shook its great green head and lunged at her. She snatched her egg away and ran for safety. She'd scored a little lower than Cedric since she had taken longer.

Two champions down, two more to go.

Krum got his egg the fastest out of the three, but was quick to lose points since the blinding spell he'd used on the dragon had caused the brute to stamp in rage and crush half of her own eggs. "Ouch." George muttered. "Charlie's got to be having a fit down there; the Chinese Fireballs' are almost extinct.

Finally it was Harry's turn.

As it turned out, Harry had the fastest time and the highest score, and he deserved it too! That maneuver with his broom was amazing! There was no doubt in the world that Harry was an exceptional flyer. As soon as Harry had his egg, Heather dashed out of her seat and tore off for the champion's tent.

She arrived moments later, breathless, and scared sick for her friends. Ron and Hermione shot in front of her to get to Harry. Heather was about to join them, when she saw Harry and Ron together.

'_I'd best leave those three alone for a bit while they patch things up.'_ She thought. Instead she went over to the next tent to see how Diggory was faring.

"Blimey, will you look at that." She said when she took in the Hufflepuff's appearance.

His clothing was badly scorched, and he had a sticky orange good plastered on the side of his face where the dragon had burned him. Cedric smiled and winced, using the muscles must have hurt. Heather walked over and sat near him. "How did the other champions do?" He asked. "Harry got out fine, he has a bit of a nasty burn on his shoulder, but other than that he's safe." She said. "Good." He breathed and closed his eyes.

Heather was in a right state despite her calm outward appearance, she felt absolutely sick with worry. Those stupid kids could have been _killed._ What kind of lunatic thought that the Triwizard tournament was sporting? A sadist, that was for sure. And all the contestants foolish enough to put their names into the goblets were without a doubt masochists.

After a few minuets of silence, Cedric asked Heather what overall score had been, he'd passed out momentarily while the scores were being delivered.

Heather whacked him hard on the arm. "OW! Good Goblins woman, what on Earth was that for!" Cedric asked, hissing in pain.

"That's for almost getting yourself killed you stupid dolt!" She countered. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. What they were doing there in the first place, she hadn't the slightest idea, but she would be damned strait to hell of she cried in front of golden boy.

"You stupid… Stupid… _Boy_!" She yelled, as if that were insult enough. "So incredibly _stupid_." She hiccupped and turned away from him before the first tear found its way down her cheek.

Cedric was taken aback. He'd never seen Heather so Emotional. "Hey," He said reaching for her. "I'm alright, honest. It's just a flesh wound." He said, quoting Monty Python.

She gave a weak chuckle and turned to face him again. He was further surprised to see that she was crying. Was she crying for him?

"And how are you doing Diggory? Is the salve doing its job? That is one nasty burn that you ha- Oh, hello dear." Madam Pomfry said, surprised to find the weeping Foxx girl by Cedric's side. The young lass colored brilliantly.

"I- Umm.. Er, I need to go." She said as she came back to herself once more. She scrubbed tears off of her face and hurried out of the tent. Cedric called after her, but she chose to ignore him. He'd made her cry. Normally this offense would be punishable by near death, but Heather only felt afraid and embarrassed and exposed.

Why on earth was she crying? She couldn't seem to stop the wretched tears; she would have given anything to save herself this shame. And why was she more upset about Cedric being hurt than Harry? They'd both been injured, had they not? And what was worse he had seen her crying. There would be no denying it later. She wanted to crawl under a rock and rot she was so embarrassed.

She was angry too.

She was angry because this pointless competition was taking place.

Angry because kids her own age were risking their lives in the name of sport.

Angry that someone had put Harry's name in the cup on purpose.

Angry because Cedric had been stupid enough to put his name in that blasted cup by himself.

And last of all, she was angry at herself. Angry at herself for caring whether the brainless fool was blown to bits or not.

"Stupid boy." She grumbled again as she scrubbed the last of the tears off her face before rejoining her friends.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**I'm sorry poppits, but I've run out of time. It is now four o'clock in the morning and my eyes are begging to be closed.**

**Please leave me lots of lovely reviews and I'll have the next chapter out lickety split.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Authors note: Another day another chapter. . . **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to J.K. Rowling's characters from Harry Potter. All OC's are of my own design.**

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**Chapter 20: Of fickle feelings and forgiveness**

A week had passed since the first task and life was slowly but surely falling back into more familiar patterns. Now that the first task was over and done with, the students' excitement began to dwindle as they were once again forced to turn their attention back to the monotony of their lessons.

Heather had taken to avoiding Cedric at all possible costs, an amazing feat seeing as how she was either his seatmate or partner in nearly all of her classes. She'd had to get clever for a few stunts: Skipping class and hiding in the loo with moaning Myrtle, showing up late to lessons on purpose and dashing out of class once it was over before Cedric had a chance to speak. She'd even gone so far as to use one of Fred's nose bleed nougats to get out of potions. She'd almost bled to death on the way to the hospital wing, but in her eyes it was a far fairer fate than having to look Cedric in the eye again.

She was in Ancient Runes quietly puzzling over a particularly tricky section of ancient Romanian pictographs when Ryan sighed.

"Alright, I've had enough. Spill it. Now." Ryan said, setting her quill aside.

"Hmm? Spill what?" Heather asked, distracted.

"What in the name of Merlin's blue bunny slippers has got you in such a mood?" Ryan asked.

Heather sighed and pushed the irritating symbols aside and said, "You really aught to stop making reference to Merlin's odd dressing habits. It's sacrilegious you know."

Ryan waved it off. "Merlin wasn't a religious icon."

"Is too, he's practically the wizarding Jesus Christ." Heather said.

As a Christian, Ryan looked positively horrified. "He is not!"

"You think so? Than why is it wizards always say _'Sweet Merlin!'_ or _'Merlin's beard!'_ when they're shocked, angry or they hurt them selves? The muggles do it all the time. One time I saw this muggle bloke reading his paper and he said _"Christ on a Bike! Will you look at what out nation is coming to?_" "

"Merlin didn't die to save wizards from eternal damnation, now stop avoiding my question." Ryan said with an exasperated sigh.

Heather, determined to avoid the question, pressed on. "In that case, why don't wizards just shout out _'Harry Potter!'_ That's a bit more fitting don't you think? He got rid of you-know-who and all, thus saving the wizarding community from eternal damnation."

"Yes, but Harry didn't die a million years ago, the novelty hasn't worn off just yet, now answer me. What has got you in such a mood?"

Heather groaned and laid her head on her arms. She mumbled something unintelligible into the fabric of her robes. "What?" Ryan said.

"Iwuahscrhyinginfrubtuvdiggery." She mumbled again.

"Come again?" .

Heather huffed and scowled at her best mate. She took a deep breath. "I SAID," She shouted loudly "I WAS- " But she was cut short.

"I say ladies, what seems to be the problem here?" Professor Helsing asked. Ryan colored and muttered and apology. Heather smirked and bent over her assigned runes once more.

When Ryan had finally cornered Heather in their dorm rooms later that night did she get the whole story.

"So, you cried."

"Yes."

"In front of Cedric."

"Yes."

"And you've been glumming about the castle because you cried."

"That's right."

"In front of Cedric."

"Yes, I believe that was the lad I was crying in front of! Can't you keep up? Were you in the slow reading group as a child or something?" Heather snapped as she grabbed Muffy off of Ryan's bed. She frowned at the stuffed toy; it reminded her of the dragons that had very nearly killed her friends.

"I'm sorry," Ryan said. "I'm just a bit lost as to why you're so worked up about it. Is it really such a bad thing that he knows that you care for him?" Ryan asked carefully.

Heather dropped Muffy. "I do not fancy him!" She said, outraged.

"I never said that mate." Ryan said gently. Heather's face took on an increasingly familiar flush and she turned away. "I'm going to the library." She said, grabbing her things and marching out of the dorm room. Ryan watched her friend make a speedy exit and wanted nothing more than for things to work themselves out swiftly.

Heather made her way blindly though the common room in her haste to make it out, she needed some space. She and Ryan rarely quarreled, but right now she felt angry at her friend. What was the matter with her? It's not like Ryan was picking a fight or anything.

'_**You're mad because you realized something.'**_

'_I'm in no mood for you today.'_ Heather thought in a clipped tone.

'_**You can't deny it forever.' **_The voice retorted.

'_La la la la la la la la la la! I can't hear you! La la la la la la la la la la!'_ Heather felt the voice retreat and felt relieved. She wanted to be alone with her thoughts. She snorted, as if. Her own thoughts wouldn't leave her alone long enough to try and think things strait. Heather yanked open the portrait hole and yelped in surprise as a small second year fell inside, panting.

"There… You are…" She panted, clutching at the stitch in her side. "Ummm, yes. I am here." She answered, her eyebrows raised to the max in her astonishment. "I've been looking…. All… Over for you…" The girl wheezed. "Harry…" She started to say.

"What's the matter with Harry?" Heather asked, alarm creeping into her voice. "He… He said… He said that he…" The girl sputtered. "Good heavens spit it out already!" Heather shouted, practically shaking the poor thing. "Beech tree!" The girl said. "He said that he wants to talk to you. Said to meet him at the beech tree by the lake."

The words were no sooner out of the little girls mouth when Heather hurtled out of the portrait hole. She sped past ghosts, teachers and students in her mad dash to get to the lake. "Good heavens lass, where's the fire!" Moody shouted after her when she almost knocked him over as he came out of the potions supply room.

Heather was out of breath when she reached the lake. "Harry? Harry? Where are you?" She called. "Harry?" Another voice answered, perplexed. "Harry's not here." Heather felt the blood drain from her face. She knew that voice. She hated it, but she would know that voice anywhere now. She turned slowly to face the man she'd been avoiding so diligently for the past week. "Why are you out of breath?" He asked coming forward. "Did something happen to Harry?" He asked, genuinely concerned.

"That…. Was…. Low…" She hissed, still trying to catch her breath. "What was low?" He asked, confusion written all over his face.

"You…. Tricked me… That was low." She said, straitening up. "I'm leaving." She announced with as much dignity as she could muster in her currently winded state. "Wait!" He called. She ignored him and continued back to the castle. Much to her dismay, the fool followed her.

"Will you wait for just a second? I didn't trick you." He said, catching up with her. "Liar!" She shouted turning to face him. "Why on earth would you send a second year racing to come and get me? Gasping Harry's name? I thought he was hurt!" She shouted. "Do you have any idea how much that kid means to me?" She asked, hurt evident in her brown eyes.

Cedric closed his eyes as realization hit him. "Of course I do." He said quietly. "I just wanted to talk to you, but you've done such a spectacular job of avoiding me for the past week that I asked a second year Gryffindor to get you to come down and talk to me." He said. Heather watched him cautiously. "It's not exactly a secret that you'd rather spend the night with a blast ended skwetert than talk to me right now, though I have no clue why, so I asked her to get you down here any way she thought possible."

Heather could hear the ring of truth in his voice; she'd never known Diggory to lie. Hell, he'd probably explode into a million little pieces if he ever told a falsehood. "So talk." She mumbled after a long pause.

Cedric get go of the breath he'd been holding. This wasn't the reaction he'd been expecting, but it was the one he'd been hoping against hope for.

"I'm sorry." He said in a rush. "I really don't know what I did to make you so mad, but I'm sorry. I would never do anything to make you hate me, honestly." He said. "I- I really like having you as my… Friend." He said lamely. "And I would never, never do anything to make you cry on purpose."

Heather closed her eyes to block out the sight of him. _'Damn him.'_ She thought. _'Damn him!'_ She did _not_ want to forgive him.

'_**But he didn't do anything wrong.'**_

'_I know!'_ She mentally growled. She'd never felt so mixed up in all her life. Cedric waited for her to say something. "Please say something." He begged.

Heather opened her eyes and looked at the boy in front of her. How had this… This… _Hufflepuff,_ wormed his way into her affections? Not that she felt anything stronger than friendship, she reminded herself sternly, but the boy in front of her had somehow managed to become a larger part of her everyday life than she would have ever expected.

"Okay." Was all she said.

"Okay? Okay what?" he asked. The one thing his father had told him when he'd first started taking an interest girls, was that when a lass started acting funny, the first thing he should do was apologize, and keep apologizing, even if he hadn't the foggiest idea what he was saying sorry for. When his father had told him that, Cedric had just laughed. Women couldn't really be that fickle could they? Well, he'd gotten his answer.

"Just okay." She said. "Let's start over."

She stuck out her right hand and offered it to the young lad. "I'm Heather Foxx, and I'm a silly thing that behaves rashly and has no concrete reason for doing so." She said. Cedric smiled. "Cedric Diggory," He said, taking her hand in his. "a brainless fool who missed his friend and is sorry for making said friend cry." They shook hands.

"So… Are we okay?" He asked. She nodded her head. "Peachy keen." She replied. "Good." He breathed. He looked down and noticed her hand was still in his. He gently squeezed her hand and rubbed his thumb over the back of her's. Heather quickly dropped his hand. "Let's ummm… We should head back before it gets too dark." She suggested, turning to the castle and away from the boy causing her to flush.

Cedric followed her wordlessly back to the castle a few paces behind. He watched her retreating figure and marveled at how irritatingly amazing he found her. He couldn't make heads or tails of her moods most days, but after the past week without her, Cedric never wanted to be on the receiving end of her evasive behavior again. He'd been in a right state for the past week; he never would have thought that the lack of one female's presence would have such a staggering effect on him. And she did affect him, more than any other girl had before.

"Oi, are you coming or not?" She called over her shoulder; she'd managed to make it to the gates first while he'd been stuck in his reverie.

He smiled a sheepish smile to himself as he quickened his pace to catch up with her. He, Cedric Diggory, one of the champions of the Tournament, Head Boy of Hogwarts, and all around golden boy had finally met his kryptonite in the form of a 17 year old girl with deep chocolate eyes and a heart wrenching smile.


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter stuff's not mine. Mine are mine though.**

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**Chapter 21: Late Night Dancing and Half Naked Teenagers**

"Will you hurry up already? I don't know how much more of this I can take…" Heather said, breathless and squirming.

Cedric smirked. "Oh, anxious are we?"

"Cedric," She whined. She rarely used his first name, Cedric knew she was serious.

"Just stick it in already." She half begged, half demanded. He smiled wolfishly at her. "Say please first." He commanded.

"Cedric!" She pleaded.

"Say it." He said again, laughing at her.  
"Please!" She shouted. "Now will you put the bloody leg in the socket already you prat! I don't know how much longer I can hold this stupid tin can upright!" She snapped, struggling to keep the heavy suit of armor from topping over. Cedric laughed and screwed the leg into the armor. "Its in." he said when he heard the small click of the metal attaching itself back to the rest of the armor. "Oh thank Merlin." Heather said, sliding to the floor in exhaustion. "I didn't know how much longer I could have held that thing…" She said.  
"Well, you wouldn't have had to hold it at all if you hadn't been using magic in the corridors." Cedric said, brushing his hands off and standing up. "Oh do shut up." She snapped irritably. "Malfoy was asking for it. Poor Hermione, I hope her teeth are back to normal…" She mused. Cedric nodded and helped her up. "Come on, we still have loads more to do." She groaned, but accepted his hand up, something she never would have done a few months prior.

"No more…" She begged. "It really wasn't my fault; I meant to hit Malfoy and his goons, not the suits of armor." She protested.

"I'm not blaming you, but you did manage to get yourself caught, hence the detention." He said pointedly.

"But it's talking so long… And these bugger's are heavy! It would go so much faster if we could just magic them back together…" Heather said, casting Cedric a pointed look. He smiled and shook his head. "I can't give you your wand back, Filch would know if you used magic to put them back together."

"Yes, but if _you_ used magic to put them back together no one would be the wiser. Then you wouldn't have to baby sit me in detention and we could duck out early."

"Why should I?" he asked, laughing. He rather enjoyed watching and 'helping' her in detention.

"I would be forever in your debt good sir." She said, bowing low.

"Alright, alright." Cedric said. "Enough of the theatrics, but you owe me. I'm breaking the rules to do this you know." He said, raising his wand.

"Yeah, yeah, fine, whatever." She said in a hurry, she didn't want a teacher to come be and catch them. "Just hurry up so we can go to dinner, I'm starved." She was eager to get down to the great hall; she could smell all the delicious food wafting down the hall.

With a flick of his wrist and the magic words Cedric had righted all of the over turned suits of armor in the hall. "Thanks." She said relieved she wouldn't have to put together the other remaining sits of armor, seven in total. After the two she'd already done she was already sore. She bent down stiffly and grabbed her bag. "Let's go, I'm _famished_." She said, gingerly standing upright.

"Is that all you ever think about? Food?" He asked, following her to the great hall. She whirled around to face him. "How dare you!" She said, outrage taking over her previously pleasant face. Cedric gulped. He'd just broken rule number one of girls. Never call them fat, or something along those lines.

"I think about quiditch just an equal amount _thank you very much_." She said in a clipped tone and resumed her way, immensely enjoying the look of terror on the Hufflepuff's face.

When they reached the great hall the pair split off to join their respective tables. Heather sank down into the seat across from Ryan and sighed blissfully as she reached for the shepherd's pie. "Come to me, my one true love." She said, serving herself a large portion.

"So, where were you?" Ryan asked, taking a dainty bite of mashed sweet potatoes.  
"Detention." Heather answered, reaching over for the dinner rolls. "Oi, Fred! Pass the pumpkin juice!"

Ryan shook her head. "Detention again? Honestly…." Heather just rolled her eyes and settled in for another lecture from her best gal pal, which in her opinion was worse than the detention itself. Ryan took a deep breath ready to launch into her lecture, when she looked across the hall and noticed Cedric watching Heather, amusement apparent on his handsome face as he watched her dig in to her dinner with enthusiasm. The wind of self-righteousness that had been fueling her sails instantly fell flat as her thoughts took on a new direction.

"You came in with Diggory." She commented.  
Heather bristled the tiniest bit. "He was my detention babysitter; I had to fix all the suits of armor I accidentally knocked down." She said defensively. "So… How come you're done so soon?" Ryan asked, feigning disinterest. "Diggory… Might have helped a bit." Heather admitted, suddenly very interested in finding the butter. "He helped you? He could get into trouble for doing that!" Ryan hissed between her teeth. "Will you please pipe down," Heather hissed back. "It's not like I forced him. I was without a wand, remember?" She added, not meeting Ryan's gaze. Ryan was puzzled, she watched her friend eat before realization dawned on her.  
"You did it again didn't you?" Ryan asked incredulously.

"Did what?"

"You've found yourself in another I. O. U. haven't you?"

"So?" Heather snapped irritably.

"So, the Heather that I know wouldn't be so foolish as to wind up in such a predicament for the... What is this? The _third_ time?" Ryan ranted. "No, the Heather _I_ know is clever enough to avoid a predicament such as this after the _first _go 'round." Heather ignored her friend and served herself a second helping of shepherd's pie. Ryan's eyes sparkled wickedly. "You're intrigued aren't you?" Ryan accused. Heather choked on her pumpkin juice. When she had some of her composure back she glared at Ryan. "I," she said through her teeth. "do not… fancy… Diggory."

Ryan smiled, thinking the lady doth protest too much. "I never said that you fancied him." Ryan said simply, returning her attention to her own dinner. "I simply stated that you're intrigued. It's a game isn't it?" Heather kicked her friend hard under the table. "Ouch! Merlin woman! And you tell me _I_ ought to have _my_ hormone levels checked…" Ryan muttered, rubbing the abused area. "Well I only did it because you're talking rubbish." Heather snapped, refusing to look at the girl across from her. Ryan smirked at her peas, but let the subject go.

As dessert appeared Heather's disposition had taken a notable turn for the better. Ryan had been hoping her pal's mood would stay that way for the rest of the evening, but felt that the peacefulness of an enjoyable night was about to be shattered when the headmaster stood up and raised his hands, calling the hall to silence.

Only when the hall had gone from the cheery din of the normal evening time meal to the quiet expectation of an audience did the headmaster lower his arms. "Thank you," He said graciously. "The first task has come and gone, and I think that the majority of us are feeling the need for some… Fun." He said, eyes twinkling. "The Yule Ball is approaching- a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament. The ball is an opportunity for the participating schools to socialize with our foreign friends. The ball is for students in the fourth year or higher, however if participants with to invite a younger student they may do so." He added with a smile.

The hall was suddenly alight with the twitter of females.

"The ball will be taking place here in the great hall at eight o'clock on Christmas Eve and will be ending at midnight. Dress robes will be required; this is a proper celebration after all." Professor McGonagall added. The twittering resumed as McGonagall continued to give out the information.

"A Ball? How terribly exciting!" A fourth year said.

"What am I going to wear?" Commented another.  
"Oh I don't know who to ask!" Said a third.

Heather looked heavenward and had one of those rare moments when she was embarrassed for her own sex. Ryan would have been rolling her eyes along with her pal, however she was far more interested in a certain young man's reaction to the news. The boy in question was looking intently at his dinner plate as his mates were talking animatedly about who they would invite. '_hmmm, this is curious.'_ Ryan thought.

"I'm going to go to bed." Ryan said suddenly.

"What? But you haven't finished your ice cream."

"I'm full," Ryan said distractedly. She wanted to get out as soon as she could. She had a feeling that Cedric would have rather have talked to Heather without another female present. "I've got an essay to finish for muggle studies. See you later." She said, grabbing her bag and making a mad dash out of the hall, leaving her friend with a bemused expression on her face.

Ryan's prediction did come true later that night, because when Heather was walking back to her dorm after astronomy Cedric asked her if she would hang back for a moment. "What is it Diggory? I'm tired." Heather said, yawning. Cedric fidgeted nervously on his feet and didn't look her in the eye. "I need to call in that I. O. U." He said.

That woke Heather up.

'_He couldn't be thinking… No… No, he can't!'_ She panicked.  
"Wait a second golden boy, let's think things though," She started to say as Cedric blurted out. "I need you to teach me how to dance."

"I do think it's…. Huh?" She said, confused.

Cedric flushed. "I don't know how to dance." He admitted. "I was wondering if you could teach me, I remember seeing you teaching your mate Ryan to fox trot back in third year." He said. "Please," He begged. "I really don't want to make a fool of myself in front of everyone."  
Heather felt her panic lessen and was mildly surprised to find a pin prick of disappointment. "You want me," she said pointing to herself. "to teach you, how to dance?" She repeated, pointing at Cedric in return. He nodded, still blushing. She giggled for a moment, and then she laughed.

"Oh shut up." He said, still scarlet.

"I'm sorry, but the golden boy can't dance?" She gasped between laughter. "Mr. suave and debonair can't dance? Oh I can hear the female hearts of Hogwarts breaking this very minuet!" She cackled.

"Never mind…" He said, prickling. She didn't have to laugh like _that_.

"Oh don't be so grumpy." Heather said as she caught up with him. "It's just that I never thought there was anything that you couldn't do." She said, still chuckling. "Don't worry mate, I'll make sure that you can dance just fine." She said, clapping him on the back. "Now, when do you want to do this?" She asked. In her opinion she was getting off rather light. She was just glad she didn't have to go flying again, last time Cedric had said something about getting her on her own broom.

"Tomorrow night? After dinner?" He asked, still sensitive from her mocking laughter. "Righto." She said when she reached the fat lady. "Just find a place we can practice and bring your dancing shoes." She said climbing into the portrait hole.

The next night at nine o'clock Heather and Cedric were in a deserted classroom in the north wing. Heather was quite amused when Cedric went to the trouble of sound proofing the room, shutting up the windows and locking the door. "Relax you ninny, I don't think anyone will be that interested whether you can dance or not." Heather said from her seat on the floor. Cedric glared at her. With a flick of the wand all of the desks and chairs were neatly stacked against the wall leaving ample room to move around.

"Right, so first things first." Heather said as she got to her feet. "You need to know the basic steps." She said pulling out her wand. She tapped the floor sharply and footprints magically appeared, making dizzying patterns on the floor.

"This is basic?" He asked, looking horrified at the complicated blueprint before him.

"It's not as hard as it looks," She said as she took a place next to him. "Now just to start off, let's just walk the board and get out a feel for how your feet should move."

Cedric hadn't been kidding; he really didn't have the slightest clue what to do. Heather struggled to keep her temper as she spent nearly two hours going over the simple patterns with Cedric and correcting his posture. She was dreading when she would actually have to dance with him. The poor lad could hardly keep from tripping over his own feet, how on earth was he going to avoid stepping on her toes?

"I think we should call it a night for now." She said finally. The relief on Cedric's face was almost tangible. "Oh thank Merlin." He sighed. "I'm really terrible aren't I?" he asked. Heather had to bite her cheek to keep the smile off of her face. "Hogwarts wasn't built in a day." Was all she said as she erased the markings on the floor and returned the room to its previous state.

"I think I'd rather fight the dragon again than dance in front of the entire school." He said glumly as they headed up to the astronomy tower. "Cheer up mate, I'll turn you into a first rate dancer in no time." She said.

And so dancing lessons became a part of their routine. After dinner the pair would meet in the abandoned classroom and go over various dance steps before or after astronomy. A smirk seemed to have taken up residence on Ryan's face, but she wisely said nothing about her friend's sudden absences late at night. The ball was fast approaching and much to both of their delight, Cedric had turned out to be a very hardworking student, showing progress every night. It seemed like no time at all when Cedric had graduated away from the blueprint and dancing with a broom stick under both arms to keep his shoulders strait to actually dancing with Heather. There had been a few trampled toes, but other than that Cedric seemed to be getting along very well indeed.

She never would have admitted it, but Heather enjoyed the dancing lessons. It was a rare treat indeed to be able to school the golden boy of Hogwarts at something. What she wasn't so keen on however, was how he sometimes made her forget how to speak, or breathe, or think. So what if they were meeting in secret almost every night? This was a tutorial and nothing more. And so what if instead of going over spells and other school related material they were spiraling across the stone floor in the moonlight as an easy waltz played.

'_Nothing to get worked up over. Nothing whatsoever.'_

'_**Keep telling yourself that honey.'**_

They were on their way to their empty classroom one night after astronomy when Heather stopped Cedric from entering with a palm flat on his chest.  
"What's the matter?" asked.  
"Peeves." She whispered. Cedric peeked around her into the classroom and found the impish little ghost setting a tack on each of the chairs, giggling wildly to himself.

"Well that's just peachy." She said, feeling slight disappointment. "I suppose we'll just continue another night." She shrugged before heading back to her dormitory.

"Wait!" Cedric called after her. "I know somewhere else we can practice." He said. "Follow me."

She watched him hurry down the hallway and shrugged, what did she have to lose? She followed to one of the castle's many paintings just as he was giving the password. "Pine Fresh." He said, and the door slid open. Heather followed him in and looked around, unimpressed. "A bathroom."

"Well, it's all I could think of after such short notice." He said, setting his things aside. Heather looked around the room. "Okay, so it's big enough," She allowed. "But a bathroom?"  
"Oh hush up, give me the music box." He said, holding his hand out. Heather smirked at his irritation, but surrendered the small music box they had been using for music. Heather had managed to place a rather tricky charm on it so it would play several complicated songs with a ¾ beat. While Cedric was busy fighting with the music box, Heather busied herself with poking around. She'd never been in this room before. She frowned at the mermaid that was coquettishly smiling at Cedric as she flipped her fins and flashed her ample bosom.

Sick of watching the silly mermaid, she walked over to the large bath and peered inside. It was full and steaming. She marveled at the size, it was more like a swimming pool than a proper bath tub. She heard Cedric curse and turned her attention to him. He was having a bit of trouble with the music box; instead of playing a melodious waltz, the music box was busy churning out a lively jazz tune.  
"Oh, give it here." She said, striding over. "No, I have it." Cedric said, pulling the box out of reach. "I said give it!" She said as she tried to tug it out of his grasp. "No!" Cedric said, pulling back. They fought over the little box in a tug of war. The struggle was short lived however when someone kicked Cedric's school bag, causing its contents to go spilling out. "No!" they both said as they watched in horror as the golden egg went rolling out. All they needed was for the blasted thing to crack open and start wailing, alerting anyone on patrol where they were. They made a mad dash to try and scoop it up, but as they both grabbed for it, they accidentally knocked it again, causing it to fall into the bath tub with a depressing splash.

"Look at what you made me do!" Cedric said, bending over the pool and looking into the quietly steaming depths. He could see that the egg had sunk to the very bottom of the pool and had split itself open. He let out a quiet breath, thankful that the shrieking didn't carry up and out over the water.

"Me?" Heather hissed outraged. If Cedric had only let her charm the blasted music box then the egg would have never fallen out. And what was more, what was he doing carrying the silly thing around for anyway?

'_**Well, he does have to be working on the next clue after all.'**_

'_Oh do shut up and allow me to simmer for once will you?' _She mentally snapped back.

Cedric sighed. "One of us is going to have to go and get it; if I try and levitate it out it will still come out screeching." He said.

"By all means, dive in." Heather said, motioning to the pool. It was his stupid egg anyway. Cedric threw her a sour look and loosened his tie. Heather began to sputter and blush when Cedric removed his shirt. "I know this is a bath, but you don't have to be naked!" She said, turning away to hide the furious blush staining her entire face. "I'm not going in naked," Heather heard him say as the rustle of clothing being removed continued. "I'm keeping my underwear on." He said. For once Heather couldn't think of anything witty to say. The next thing she heard was the sound of splashing water.

Heather's flush began to recede as a new kind of flush took over. She'd caught a brief glance at Cedric when he'd tossed his shirt aside. All those years of playing quiditch had done the lad good.

'_Real good.'_ She allowed.

He wasn't overly toned like some athletes were; he still had a soft look about him. A normal look. But despite looking soft, his chest was nicely developed and his arms were strong looking. She smiled a very small smile. Much to the horror of every fan girl's imagination, Cedric did not have rock hard abs, nor did he did have the even barest hint of a six pack under the smooth skin of his belly. Instead he had a smooth and flat looking stomach. He had minimal chest hair and a _very_ distracting trail of hair that disappeared into his trousers…

The sound of Cedric surfacing and gasping for breath brought Heather back from her dangerous thoughts. "Foxx, you have to hear this." He said.

"Hear what?" She asked, her voice slightly higher than normal.

"The egg," he said. "It's… You have to come in." was all he said. He sounded excited.

"Are you mad?" She asked. He wanted her to go swimming? In the middle of the night? While he was in his _underwear_?

"Come on," He urged, "you can come in wearing your under things." He said. "They're just like a regular swimming costume aren't they?"

"They are not like normal swimming costumes!" She said. A proper swimming costume was one piece that covered everything, not those skimpy little bits of cloth that Ryan was always bugging her to buy.

"Come on," He said, "This is really cool, you have to see for your self." He said eagerly. He saw her posture change from the ridged line it was moments before, to a more relaxed pose. "I won't look." He added, seeing that her curiosity was going to win out eventually.

Heather was torn. On the one hand she desperately wanted to find out what he was so excited about, but on the other hand, she did _not_ want to be in a swimming pool wearing nothing but her under things with _Diggory._

In the end her curiosity won out.

"Turn around." she ordered. Cedric grinned and turned around to face the mermaid. When she heard the sound of the water rippling she turned around to make sure he wasn't looking. "Don't turn around." She said warily as she pulled her tie off. If felt like ages, but in no time at all Heather was standing, practically naked in a white bra and a matching pair of boy short panties. She was nervously thanking the fates that she had had the presence of mind to put on a matching set this morning, and what was more she'd actually worn something slightly cute while still providing as maximum coverage as she was ever going to get out of underwear. She fidgeted nervously as she stared at Cedric's bare back, distracted by the lean muscles and little beads of water dusting his skin.  
"Are you done yet?" he asked, still facing the wall. "No peeking." She said firmly as she made her way to the edge of the tub. Cedric smirked when he heard the splash of water. He might have said, 'wouldn't dream of it.', but to say it would have been a lie, seeing as he couldn't exactly say that he wasn't the slightest bit occupied with the thoughts of a half naked girl swimming with him.

When Heather dove into the pleasantly warm water she immediately swallowed a mouthful of water. When she heard music she'd gasped, not something advisable for someone presently under water. She surfaced sputtering and coughing. "Are you alright?" Cedric asked, swimming over. She nodded and continued to cough. "Wha- What was that?" She asked, sneezing.

"I don't know," he allowed. "But it's cool isn't it?" He said, excited again. When Heather had cleared her nasal passages she took in his eager face. His hair was darker now that the water was dripping form his normally sandy brown locks down his face, clinging to his skin. Heather closed her eyes and scolded her self. She would _not_ check Diggory out. When she had composed herself she smiled back at him. "Let's give it a proper listen shall we?"

They both took a deep breath and submerged themselves. This time the music was less of a shock for Heather. She swam closer to the little egg and listened.

_Come seek us where out voices sound,_

_We cannot sing above the ground._

_An hour long you'll have to look_

_To recover what it is that we have took._

_An hour long you'll have to look_

_To recover what we've took._

_You're time's half gone so tarry not_

_Lest what you seek stays here to rot._

They surfaced at the same time, both breathless and excited. "You have to find something underwater." Heather said, wild with excitement. "But I only have an hour." Cedric finished. "But what is it that's singing?" He asked, puzzled. They both sat in silence. Occasionally one of them would offer up a suggestion, but it would be quickly thrown out. "Don't be daft," Heather said, "Kelpie's can't speak."  
"Well if you're so brilliant than what is it?" He snapped. They'd been picking their brains for the past hour and still hadn't come up with anything. They lapsed back into silence again.

Heather dove underwater to listen to the song yet again and Cedric tried hard to think of what it was. Heather emerged from the water and wiped the water out of her eyes. She shook her head sadly as she treaded water. The corners of his mouth twitched in an effort not to smile as he took in the sight of her. She was quite fetching swimming there in her charming little underwear set. Part of her hair had come unbound from her braid and floated around her like foam. She looked like a mermaid.

A mermaid!

"That's it!" He cried, pointing at the wall.

"Huh? What?" Heather asked confused, looking behind her.

"That!" Cedric said, pointing to the mermaid on the wall.

"A painting?"  
"No stupid, the mermaids! It's the mer folk! I have to find something the mer folk took." He said, excited again that he'd solved another part of the clue.

"That's right! I remember Hagrid mentioning something last year about mer people not being able to speak above water!" Heather said, catching on to Cedric's enthusiasm. "But where are there mer folk?" She asked. Cedric shrugged.

They went back and forth for a few moments going over the populations of mer people in the world.

"But how are they going to get the entire school to the Bahamas? It's not like we can all take a holiday for the second task." Cedric said.

Heather thought some more. "What about…? No, it couldn't be…" She said. "But maybe…?" She mused aloud. "What?" He asked, eager to hear a new theory.  
"The lake." She said. "I'd be willing to bet that there is a population of mer folk living in the black lake." She said, looking him in the eye. Cedric paused to consider this. "I'll bet you're right." He said. They both grinned madly at one another, thrilled at having worked the puzzle out.

Heather laughed. "See, if I hadn't knocked the egg into the water none of this would have happened." She said with a large smile.

"You knocked it in now did you?"

She nodded.

"Oh really, well try and knock this." He said, and splashed her in the face.

Heather caught the water full in the face. "You're going to wish you hadn't done that Diggory." She said pouncing on him.  
They played in the water for another hour before they realized the time. They climbed out of the water and were careful not to catch the other looking as they each stole surreptitious glances at each other as they dressed.

By some act of God, the pair of them made it back to their dorms without getting caught. Even Cedric would have had some serious explaining to do if he were found out of bed at four o'clock in the morning.

He walked her back to her common room. Was about to climb to the secret passage way when she stopped. "Cedric-"

"I'll tell him tomorrow." He said. She smiled at him and climbed the rest of the way in.

Heather was ever so quiet when she snuck up to her dorm room. She breathed a silent sigh when she saw that every one of her bunk mates was sound asleep, Ryan included. She tip toed to her bed and quickly changed for sleep. As she settled herself into her covers she replayed the night's events in her mind. Grateful for the darkness, Heather rolled over and tried to sleep and forget about the rush of heat invading her face when she thought of Cedric, all wet and mostly naked.

I know updates are few and far between. I don't have too many excuses. I do want to finish this thing, but I have no clue how long it's going to take. I don't know when I will update next, but do know that it will come... Eventually.


End file.
